Angels in the Shadows
by The Ethereal One
Summary: The Teen Titans are hounded by Slade and his minions, who relentlessly pursue Raven. But Slade shows another side to his agenda, as the Titans soon discover a young man that is also on the enigmatic criminal mastermind's radar, if only lightly so at the moment. The team struggles to piece together his motives, knowing that things could take a turn for the worse soon enough.
1. Chapter 1: Deep Water

A/N: We'll keep this short and sweet for the time being. So this is based on a dream I had years ago. Starting off, you may get a Sue-ish vibe just from the powers of this person and his biology, but... I urge you to not be hasty. I 'll try hard to make him not Sue-ish, but please do not assume he will be so right off the bat. The term Mary Sue and its associated relatives have been widely misused these days, such that when someone does label a character as being Sue-ish they're probably not using the term correctly.

It's rated M because it will be taking a darker look (hopefully) at this world. There will be sexual themes, language not suitable for children, death, and other things meant for mature teens and adults. Teen might've been more appropriate, but given how the former is going to be present and that's an M rating thingy, it seemed I should be safe.

But if it doesn't seem like it's M as I progress, I'll edit it to be T.

**O~O~O**

"Is this the place, Cyborg?" Robin said as he peered out over a cliff.

"Should be. My scanners are saying this is where Slade was last detected."

The cliffs were barren mountains and a desolate gorge, a range of bleak brown on the outskirts of Jump City. No grass had grown, the ground had become rough and cracked, and the heat was unbearable. What Slade was searching for out here was unknown to the Titans, as there was nothing of value. The sky was dotted a crimson red, as if stained by the blood of many innocents, the sun rising up in the distance to cast an eerie radiance amidst the horizon. Raven thought to herself that it meant something bad happened, or was to happen. But she didn't feel the need to voice these thoughts.

Cyborg began inputting various code sequences into his cybernetic arm, hoping to glean something of interest that would aid them in their endeavor.

But nothing came.

"I don't get it. Why would Slade want to come here?" Beast Boy asked with a yawn. Being woken up early in the morning was never something his body handled well. For that matter, being woken up _at all_ was not something his body handled well.

Before Robin could say a word on what he believed to be the answer, they saw a figure moving in the shadows below them. It was too far to make out, but it was moving nonetheless. Yelling the order for the Titans to move out, they began to descend down the mountain in their own ways. Starfire and Raven flew down, Beastboy changed form into a hawk, while Cyborg and Robin jumped from ledge to ledge or slid down the Cliffside. Deftly, they dodged falling boulders that decided to join their pursuit. Closer and closer they came to this figure.

_You're mine now Slade_, Robin thought inwardly. The bitter hatred that he harbored toward his nemesis festered like an open wound with every encounter they had in the past that resulted in him escaping. He insisted his judgment wasn't clouded by it, but he knew his allies and, more importantly, his friends didn't believe it.

Not a few days prior had Slade shown himself once more to the Titans; revealing that Terra's sacrifice of redemption had not truly resulted in his demise. The thought of those trying months still left a bitter taste in Robin's mouth. He had never forgiven himself for failing to see the threat Terra posed, even if he had forgiven her. The monument that lay beneath the earth held a plaque near and dear to their hearts, saying that the things Terra had searched for so long she had finally acquired. Friends, family, and a home. Encased in stone, she stood there, arms outstretched as if to gather people towards her.

Robin wanted answers. Perhaps Slade had some inkling as to how the effects could be reversed, but moreover he wanted to make sure that he paid and that he would not harm his friend Raven. Twice in the past had he used a member of the Titans for his own agenda, and Robin would be damned if he would allow that to happen again.

Now halfway down the mountain, they saw more of who the figure was. It was draped in a ragged black cloak, torn almost to shreds and with the remnants of its hood draped over the head. The enigmatic person was running quickly, as if trying to avoid something.

_Or find something_, Robin thought again.

"Slade! Stop right there!" he shouted out, jumping from one ledge to the next.

The being turned and looked up, but the face was shrouded beneath strange shadow. Not even the light of the day would illuminate what the Titans were pursuing. It was as if a wraith that stalked the darkest areas of the world was down there, and not any man. The sun was now pressing up against the skyline more and more, its brightly colored streaks giving the blood skies a distinct orange hue to add to their splendor.

"Doesn't look like he's going to listen, Robin." Cyborg said sarcastically.

"Then we'll just have to make him listen!" Raven cried out into the air. "_Azarath Metrion Zinthos!_"

With that, Raven's eyes turned black from her power and darkness swelled forth from the ground around the figure in the form of a circle. The ground fissured beneath it, the weight of her arcane might having taken a heavy toll upon the land. Trapped, the figure looked around but saw that he couldn't run in any direction. The narrow pass that he was ensconced in was now without a method of retreat.

"Good job friend Raven!" Starfire shouted excitedly.

The Titans were now close to the bottom, the ground strewn with boulders serving as monuments with their own stories to tell. They could now make out even more of who the figure was. He was tall, with broad shoulders and an imposing countenance. Doubtless that he was strong, and his appearance matched that of Slade's from what they could tell.

A strong breeze came through and passed over the black prison, bringing dust into it. The figure looked up and saw that the top was open and clear, with no shadows keeping him at bay. Leaping into the air, he placed a foot on the edge of the confinement built from darkness and gracefully jumped towards the ground, wherein he continued to run.

"Man… why's he gotta keep running?" Beastboy groaned as he switched to his normal form. "Can't Slade just stay there and wait for us?"

"Come on BB, do you really want it to be _that_ easy?" Cyborg said with an easy smile as he gave Beastboy a strong pat on his back. Beastboy shrugged in response, saying that they always choose to run and it doesn't make a difference. And that he really hated running on an empty stomach.

"Complain later!" Robin berated them as he ran ahead of the group. Starfire and Raven quickly followed suit, flying in unison.

Running, running, running. It seemed like they had been running after their target for hours beyond counting, the sun now bearing its heat down upon them heavily in the barren wasteland. The sunburned cliffs were riddled with gnarled roots and withered trees as they pressed forward, as if a great inferno had stricken a once fertile land and turned it to naught but ash and dust.

The elusive figure was darting across the valley even faster then before, almost to the point that the Titans couldn't catch up with him. Beastboy turned into a cheetah, galloping elegantly, to match his speed. Soon, he came up beside him and leapt at his opponent, switching his form to that of a lion. His mane swayed in another gentle breeze as he began to claw at who he believed to be Slade, the claws taking more and more pieces of the frayed cloth with them.

As he readied himself to pounce, an explosion caught his attention. Beaming his eyes up, he saw a deadly mixture of stones, varying in size, barreling down towards him. With each fall they took more and more with them, the mountain now collapsing entirely. Scared, he turned into a peregrine falcon and took to the air, flying back to meet with his companions once again. His regal green wings enabled him to glide easily across the air as the rocks missed their target.

"Heh", the green changeling uttered as he shifted form. "Guess I forgot about his new powers."

"Beastboy, are you injured?" Starfire asked innocently, concerned for her friend's well-being.

As he stretched and rotated his arms, he pushed back a few tufts of hair that had fallen into his face with his right hand and smiled gently at her. "Nah, I'm fine. A bit sore from getting out of there so fast, but I'm good."

Robin and the rest quickly moved past the two of them, leaving them standing amidst the desolation. Starfire turned her head to see that Robin was now at the lead, and moving faster still.

Raven, Starfire noticed, had actually stopped amidst all the strewn boulders that nearly crushed Beastboy. Something had caught her eye, and she bent down to pick it up, carefully sorting through the debris so as to not destroy what she sought out. When she was finished, she tucked the object in a small pouch attached to her belt.

"Friend Raven, what did you stop for?" Starfire said as she and her emerald companion caught up to the silent sorceress.

"Now's not the time for talking, Star", the green changeling informed her as he pointed off into the distance. "Look, over there."

Where Robin was, the world began once more to turn into verdant pastures. Green trees were visible every now and then, but for the most part it was open fields they were running through. Beastboy told Starfire they'd best catch up before all the fun was missed, wherein he changed form into a hawk to fly the distance.

Running, running, running. All the running had done was make Robin even more determined. If he hadn't been pursuing Slade, he might've stopped to climb a tree and take in the scenic vistas with his friends. But not now. That was unimportant, for at least the moment. The bloodied skies overhead had now switched to an azure hue, with white fluffy clouds of grand size coating the skyline and more often then not coaxing the sun into hiding from the earth's eyes.

The heat was beginning to take its toll on the group, but most of all Robin. Sweat was trickling down his forehead as he gave chase, trying their best to keep him cool. Robin blinked quickly, trying to keep it from flowing into his eyes. He could feel the grime on his face that came from a hard day's exertion, but he didn't care about that. He didn't care about the heat. He wouldn't allow himself to stop for rest or faint and let Slade get away.

A breeze came by and gave him gentle relief, cooling his body down. With his body no longer plagued by the sun's rays as much as it was, he felt certain that he could press forward.

"He's running out of room to run now", Cyborg said confidently, seemingly bored by everything. "Soon enough he'll stand on a cliff overlooking the ocean."

The Boy Wonder, unfazed in his momentum or by Cyborg's comments, reached for his utility belt and took out a birdarang gun. _I won't let you get away that easily_.Firing it, a long tensile wire was attached to the metal bird and wrapped itself around his quarry's legs.

Jerking the string with his hands, the string tightened around the figure's legs and brought him to a halt. Falling face first in the dirt, Robin moved atop his captured foe's body, ready and willing to interrogate him. By now, the rest of the Titans had moved to join up with him.

"Nice! You caught Slade, Robin!" Beastboy shouted with enthusiasm, bearing that self-confident aura that marked him so thoroughly and annoyed Raven to no end.

"Too easily." Raven added. "Because that's not Slade." The others looked at her in bewilderment, not realizing what she was saying. Even Robin, who had single-mindedly focused on Slade, looked at her with his eyes held wide and the makings of a scowl on his face.

A deathly silence fell over the group, their prey trapped beneath the combined weight of his ragged cloak and Robin's strength. No sound emanated from him, and for half a heartbeat Robin feared that he had killed the person he was chasing. Gently easing himself off of the man's back, he untied the rope around his legs and retracted the gadget completely.

"If he's not Slade, then who is he?" Cyborg asked, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

But no sooner had she opened her mouth to explain then had a new voice broken in, disrupting the still air around them.

"Well, well… the Teen Titans. How very… quaint for you to come out here and visit little old me."

Looking around, the group couldn't see anything for miles in either direction. The fields were as empty as a graveyard in terms of life. The skies only contained the shifting clouds in all their random shapes. And out on the ocean was the occasional ship heading towards a local harbor. For all they could tell, a ghost had appeared out of nowhere to taunt them. And it was a voice they all knew too well.

At first, Robin thought that it was the man below despite Raven's earlier assertion, but he quickly noticed that the enigmatic soul was unconscious, sleeping blissfully away. _So you're not him, whoever you are_. Even with the full light on him, he was still cloaked in shadow, incapable of being seen.

Cyborg began to input various codes and sequences into his metal arm, hoping to scan the area and find some trace of their new "guest". Raven began to meditate hoping to sense his aura, while Starfire and Beastboy took to the skies. Robin, restricted to the ground, took out his birdarang sword and swung at the air violently to get a feel for it.

In the end, all of the Titans came to the same conclusion, confident in the veracity of their beliefs.

"Slade", they all said in unison, their voices forming a choir chanting a hymn towards what some might view as the devil incarnate.

"Astute, aren't we?"

And from beneath their feet past the cliffs rose their nemesis, clad in the same black-gold armor he so liked to wear, his left eye staring intently at them in narrowed form, mocking them all. But most of all, it was mocking Robin, reminding him of how he never truly stopped Slade. Of how he had served him. And how, most of all, the two of them were alike, loathe as Robin was to admit the idea.

He casually strode towards the group, as if they were nothing more then an inconsequential gathering of gnats buzzing about his head on a burning summer's morn. Folding his arms behind his back, he began to walk on air towards them.

"What are you doing here, Slade?" Robin asked forcefully, tired of all the times Slade had evaded justice. "Why pursue Raven? Why come out to here?"

"Robin", Slade said almost exhaustedly, "you could never understand my motives. I know yours, but you would never be able to see why I do the things I do. But if you want to know so desperately, I seek the boy at your feet. I won't let you take him."

"Why? What does he gain you?" Raven asked, her eyes glowing white like pure fire as she began to project part of her soul-self.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Slade asked sarcastically as he leapt towards them, intent on bandying no more words.

He began with a roundhouse kick to Robin that took him completely by surprise in the jaw, sending him flying across the fields. Starfire launched a volley of starbolts at Slade, to which he countered with a shield of dark fire. When she focused her energy and sent a stream of energy from her eyes towards him, Slade deftly jumped into the air and grabbed her by the arm, flinging her towards the ground.

She quickly regained her composure, only to see that Slade had summoned a pillar of fire from beneath her to meet her. Struck in the stomach, she was sent at an accelerated rate pummeling towards the ocean, the calm blue waters ready to swallow her up as a new visitor to their hallowed halls of the deep. Beastboy quickly intervened, shifting form to that of a pterodactyl and clutching Starfire in his claws, easing her slowly onto the ground.

"Thank you, Beastboy." She said as she stood up again, brushing the dirt off of her miniskirt. Robin was now pressing the attack alongside Cyborg, conjoining their attacks. Cyborg's sonic blaster sent out waves of energy, pulsating all throughout the ground, sending it soaring towards their nemesis. Slade knocked them aside with ease, only to be pelted by a flurry of freeze discs, rendering him immobile.

But even then, his new powers kicked in. The ice that encased his body began to rapidly melt away as his hands burned intensely, the water now forming a puddle at the base of his feet.

"Really, Robin, I expected better of my old apprentice."

"I was **never** your apprentice! Only one person was my mentor!"

"Robin, you wound me. We are so very much alike, you know."

Robin then threw his body at Slade in anger, kicking and punching in rapid succession. For each attack, Slade matched it perfectly. Robin's leg was intercepted by Slade's; Robin's fist collided with Slade's own. They were in perfect sync; a martial dance in such stunning unison that it might seem otherworldly and beautiful.

Robin threw an uppercut at Slade that took him square in the jaw, sending him flying back. But Slade rebounded and landed on his hand, spinning in a wild arc with his legs outstretched that almost caught Robin.

All the time, Robin felt that he had heard sickening crunches with each successful blow, as if bones were breaking from the sheer force of the two enemies. Robin felt nothing, so he knew it wasn't his. And if Slade's bones were crushed, he made nothing to indicate such a thing. No grimace of pain was heard, no flinch or recoil, nor did he clutch his hands. All he did was stretch his body as if this was the first workout he'd had in a long time.

"It's amazing what you can do when you're so full of vigor." He said loudly as he threw orbs of fire at the Titans. Robin could sense that Slade was smiling sinisterly beneath his mask, taking a strange pride in what he was doing.

Robin managed to duck behind a rock jutting from the earth in such form that it seemed to be a sword spawned from the depths of hell. Slade's powers were beginning to take their toll on the stone weapon, and Robin knew soon enough he'd have nowhere left to go. He peered over his shoulder eastward to see that the cloaked figure had begun to rise, now aware of his surroundings in full. His hood – or what was left of it – had now fallen from his face and Robin saw that the figure was a young man no older in appearance then having celebrated his eighteenth birthday.

His long flowing brown hair tumbled gently about his shoulders, swaying slightly in the breeze. His face was smooth and perfectly rounded, with a strong jaw at its core. His eyes were as wide as saucers, taking in what he was witnessing. His skin was pallid, as if sick with a deadly ailment, but the man did not seem to be wanting for strength.

Rolling away from the now useless shield, he ventured a step or two towards the young man while the other Titans fought on. The boy backed away slowly, and Robin yelled at him to run away when he finally stopped in his tracks. The boy just stood there, staring as he tilted his head to the side. Robin couldn't tell why he wasn't running, but he knew that standing about wouldn't help matters either.

Turning, he saw Starfire unleash hellfire down upon Slade, who could only use his arms as a shield to protect his body from the full brunt of the blasts. Catching one in a net of flames, he mixed it with his own demonic powers and sent it flying back towards her. Only a moment before it would've hit her did she dodge it.

Robin jumped back into the fray, keeping Slade on his toes with another relentless push of attacks. Taking him by surprise in the back with an aerial kick, Slade recovered his footing and snatched Robin's leg, running and dragging him across the earth as if he were but a sack of potatoes. Using his other leg, Robin tripped the resurrected menace and freed himself before dropping an explosive.

Cyborg once more sent out a blast from his arm's cannon that hit the explosive, detonating it. Slade was sent flying back with a small shout, but before he could get his bearings a shadow loomed overhead growing progressively larger. Turning to face the sky, Slade's eyes went wide as he saw what was about to happen.

"Banzai!" Beastboy shouted before turning into a stegosaurus, crushing Slade beneath his weight. The look on Beastboy's face was that of almost contentment, until a low rumbling from beneath him took him by surprise. Slade summoned an unimaginable strength as he lifted the changeling and tossed him at the other Titans, Raven and Cyborg in particular.

Knowing that remaining in that form would be disastrous if he landed on top of them, Beastboy reverted back to his original form and knocked Raven down into the dirt, the two of them at opposite ends of each other.

"Beastboy, get your butt out of my face... _now_." Raven said with cold anger.

He did, though his head was spinning from the impact and so he sat for a minute or two catching his breath. Slade didn't seem to be willing to give Beastboy the breather, hurtling orbs of dark fire at him, knocking him unconscious. The Teen Titans were now down to four.

"Beastboy!" Starfire cried out.

"Really, is this the best your group can do Robin? After everything I've done, I would've expected more from them. From you."

Robin ignored the remark, lunging at Slade as he hit him constantly in the chest, though Slade seemed more amused then anything else as he spun in a circular arc and knocked Robin to the side. Raven conjured up her energy as she pulled the earth from beneath Slade's feet and trapped him within. The other Titans gathered around to take it in, hoping that they had finally won and could question the man.

They were wrong. The earth rumbled and cracked, violent streaks of orange visible within.

"Move!" Robin yelled bluntly, knowing that an explosion was imminent. Unfortunately, the explosion came mere seconds after the order and the group was sent flying back. Lying on the ground, Robin looked around to see his friends were now unable to help. Pulling his body to its feet, the weight of it feeling as heavy as cargo container, he wouldn't give up. Not now, not here.

Slade didn't even consider Robin worth his time anymore. With a slight push, Robin fell towards his knees. As he sat there, unable to move, he noticed a shadow leaping over him, blocking out the sun ever so briefly. Turning his head, Slade was diving headlong towards the young man. As his feet hit the ground, Slade rolled inward to break the fall and quickly ran towards his true target. Robin turned his head all around to see the rest of the Teen Titans were scattered and wounded, Slade having carefully picked them off.

But Slade quickly found that his target would not face the same fate. At a command, the earth swallowed Slade whole, trapping him in a prison several feet thick. As he tried to burn his way through as he had done once before, the young man closed a fist and at once his stone cage detonated like a bomb was strapped to it, sending Slade flying unawares towards the ocean.

Robin stared and saw the boy ascending in the air, shaking violently as the powers coalesced, as if his body were a city caught in the wake of a massive earthquake. From his eyes, it seemed as if blood were spilling forth, raining from every orifice in his face, yet he could see no apparent wound. The blood stained the ground, forever captured like in all battles, where as time passes on the world itself will remember what deeds were performed on those days.

When Slade tried to fly towards him, pillars of water surrounded him, rising up from the ocean. Robin could feel a mist forming from the salty water; he could smell the seaweed and the infinite smell of renewal. The pillars then emulated their stone counterparts, threatening to drown Slade. He gasped for air, his eyes growing wider and wider as he let loose the fire he now commanded. They tore holes through the watery grave-to-be, but the figure quickly sent his fire to match it, rendering the water to boil from within. Slade cried out in pain, but as he passed out from the pain the figure promptly let go of his grip on everything.

Slade fell from the skies, his unconscious body threatening to never again rise again. But the man, for reasons Robin could not know, sent a surge of wind to guide Slade past the verdant fields and the desolate wasteland. Part of Robin suspected it was due to fear, another part out of some sense of pity and mercy. At the same time, the lad looked visibly exhausted by all of it, so perhaps that played a part in it as well.

Slowly, the other four Titans began to waltz towards Robin, stumbling like drunkards with faces displaying a sense of shock and awe.

"Whoa…" Beastboy said, unable to come up with any immature joke or enthusiastic comment.

"Whoa is right", Cyborg said. "Now I see why he didn't want us getting to him."

"We should go talk to him." Robin said as he dusted off his clothes and walked over to greet the young man, who was now turned to the horizon as he gazed at where he had last sent Slade. "Hey, I'm Robin. What's your—"

Robin could scarcely finish his question when a minor explosion took him off his feet, causing him to fall backwards.

"Rguq lupm! Rguq uwuq bhed da!" the young man cried out.

"He's afraid", Raven said as she helped Robin to his feet. "Whatever he's saying, it's out of fear."

"Hey, don't be afraid of us! We're the Teen Titans! We're the _good guys_, and we're **not** like Slade." Beastboy said half friendly and half insulted.

"Taufa da uteva! Cirg ke!" he shouted at them as he ran away towards the fields, erecting a stone dome around them to bar them from following. When Raven and Starfire took it down, the entire group of Titans saw that he had vanished into thin air, as if he had never existed in the first place.

"I am confused", Starfire said in her usual tone of innocence as she anxiously rubbed her arms. "Why would he be afraid of us?"

"Robin, should we go after him?" Cyborg said as he began to call for the T-Ship.

"It wouldn't matter." Raven said, floating in front of the group. Whoever he is, he flew out of here as soon as he could."

"Flew? Raven, he didn't exactly have any wings."

"He did Beastboy", she said as she pulled out her pouch. "We just couldn't see them from beneath that cloak, torn as it was. Look."

"A feather?" Robin said as he began to inspect it, as if this was integral to unraveling everything. The feather was large and white, so it evidently wasn't from Beastboy's transformations. "Who is this guy?"

"And why does Slade wish to see him destroyed?" Starfire added.

"That also bothered me", Raven answered. "I don't think he wants him destroyed at all. If there's one thing we've learned in all of our encounters with Slade, it's that nothing he says can be taken at face value. Slade led us out here deliberately, when he could've easily avoided us. To think that we know what he's doing and why he's doing it would mean we've already lost."

Robin nodded in agreement, signifying he was thinking the same thing.

"We'll continue this discussion back at the tower." Robin said authoritatively, looking to the sky to see the T-Ship descending towards them. As they sat down in their assigned positions, Robin couldn't help but muse where the days were leading. Certainly, they were stranger then ever before.

But he couldn't have expected what was to follow. No one could.


	2. Chapter 2: What Lies in Darkness

**A/N:** Well, skip ahead of this if you want to read the story itself, as I've got a fair bit to say. First off, it was my intention to do three points of view in each chapter, but for this one I refrained from doing the Robin part because it was getting too long already. Not to mention that the ending of this chapter seemed to be better off without it anyway.

One of my intentions is to humanize Slade a bit, using what I know of his character from the comics. You see very subtle hints here and there in the series itself that he's not a horrible person, but they're few and far between. I won't put him into a state of being where he's not that badass we all know and love, hopefully, but I do want to explore the more human elements of him using his past, his three children, and his ex-wife.

Second, I apologize in advance if my writing quality is not… well… quality. I can make no guarantees at how well it will be. All I ask is that you bear with me and enjoy the ride as best as you can as I try to sort out the many ideas for this arc. As I write, I **always** second guess my work. People could call me Shakespeare reborn and I'd still think the stuff I write is more like Tommy Wiseau.

Third, if anyone who has written fanfics before and has completed them would like to offer me some beta reading type stuff, I'd appreciate it. If you've written a Teen Titans fanfic or any superhero type of fanfic then that's even better. My weak points mainly lie in battles and dialogue for pre-written characters. For instance, sometimes I can get into the heads of a character that already exists in the universe, but more often then not I struggle with it. How do I make dialogue that seems natural and not forced?

Fourth, you'll note as you read a moment that seems like a bit of a timeline discrepancy in the second POV. Yes, it is a timeline discrepancy, I know that. I understand that. But... part of me wants to put it in the Season Four story for certain reasons. I won't be changing the overall story of it. I'll just be adding a few details, particularly because it's crucial to my OC and his relationship to the Titans.

So, constructive criticism of any kind, even after I post the chapters, is always appreciated and welcome. Especially on this, as my knowledge of the DC universe is limited. So please, review!

**O~O~O**

In the midst of an abandoned mansion, bats could be heard chiming away eerily. The wind was howling through the windows, or rather what was left of them. The glass had long since broken, the shards now decorating the floor of the building like shrapnel. Lights flickered on and off, nearly drained of all their energy.

Slade found his way here, after having been sent off from his battle with the Titans in what he could only describe as fury unparalleled. As he stood up, he noted that his armor suit was destroyed in some areas, the bones of his body now jutting out as if someone had carefully removed all his skin and muscles, only to savagely distort his skeleton's frame in the vein of some sick joke. No doubt the fall had done the damage.

Thankfully, his body was used to such things by now. _The aid of an inter-dimensional demon has wondrous health care_, he thought to himself with a vague hint of a smile boiling underneath his mask. More then a year ago, Trigon the Terrible had raised Slade's body from the depths of the earth's lava filled caverns and bestowed upon him life.

To be precise, a half-life.

Terra's little escapade had caused Slade to be buried under miles of earth and stone, and it was a wonder that he was able to dig himself out at all. If he had a stomach, it no doubt would have taken umbrage with the lack of food. But he didn't, which for the time being was a boon. Though cursed with no skin, no muscles, and not even a soul he couldn't help but examine that he didn't require some of the more mundane and necessary tasks meant to keep a body functional. Sleep was the only one he needed, if even that, since his mind was intact. But that was rarely done.

It elicited a small laugh that brought a hint of pain, but not much. His nervous system had been almost entirely burned away from the lava, with only trace remnants remaining. Even those were few and far between, located in places that were rarely struck. But when they were, Slade felt as if his entire body was being rent limb from limb, where even a small strike could paralyze him with misery. He didn't quite understand how his nervous system's torn and isolated remnants could still send messages of pain triple the normal amount to his brain, but it simply was that way. Science should've dictated that he wouldn't be able to feel pain at all even if those few regions were hit, but then again science should've dictated that falling into a lake of lava would mean certain death.

Making matters worse, he had trouble moving right now. The earthen prison he had been snared in had crushed the bones in his right leg, so he found it difficult to walk. Leaning up against the wall of the manor, he noted cracks in its foundation. He hadn't been here for years, though it seemed like it was decades he'd been gone. It was his old haunt, the place he loved to frequent so much back when he had so many plans in store for the Titans.

He was thankful, at least, that his prey had dropped him off in a seemingly random place that wasn't too far away from here, in truth. _Shame he didn't know_. Maybe if he had, the boy wouldn't have sent him anywhere near his abode. But the boy would hardly be able to rectify that error.

Slade was also grateful that, for the moment, he lacked the capability to bleed. He didn't want to dirty up his old base of operations. _Not that it's particularly clean, mind you_. But he thought it poor etiquette to bleed in someone's home. Especially if that home is yours.

As he ascended a small flight of stairs, he noted the carnage that had befallen his lovely estate. Statues of wondrous creatures, mythical or no, were now lying face down, shattered and forlorn. The chandelier he had spent a hefty sum upon was now dangling, ready to come crashing down as the wires desperately tried to keep each other alive.

The bookshelves that had his most prized reads were now bare and devoid of anything, having no doubt been looted at some point. Or perhaps Wintergreen had taken care to see them safely stored away. Slade hoped for the latter.

At the top of the stairs, the railing broke off repeatedly as it curved to the right, so Slade found it even more difficult to move when he had to occasionally walk with nothing to support him but his own willpower. Even so, he moved to his den, determined to check on a few things.

Opening the solid oak door, the hinges creaked away as if they were singing a dirge, the rust coming off here and there to join the dance of the dust mites in the sunlight. His black curtains were closed, keeping most of the light from entering in, but somehow the room was still gently illuminated by the dome window at the very top.

_I always did detest that thing. It always provided an unnecessary glare._

His bookcase in his lounge was similarly devoid of any of its residents, something that pained Slade more then he thought it would. Reading always brought him a quiet solace, but moreover it always gave him ideas. And although he was alive once more, he was not truly living nor was he free to do as he wished. Trigon wanted absolute obedience, and though Slade had his doubts on whether he could trust Raven's father he was not in a position to argue. Slade had been saved from absolute death by Trigon's powers, and it was those same powers that could end his life once and for all.

Still, Slade was no one's servant. Even if he was helping Trigon, it was only out of self-interest, and he had contingency plans in store to ensure Trigon wouldn't succeed permanently. He knew what the "lord of all evil" was planning, and that directly interfered with his own plans for Jump City and the rest of the world.

Moving towards the bookcase, he began to fumble around in the barely luminescent room. Grasping a candlestick, he pulled down with as much strength as he could muster. A small passage opened up, the stairwell leading into a dark and gloomy cave as devoid of light as the soul of the one his life was bound to.

Down and down he went, into caverns he hadn't explored for eons. The dust lingered, having piled up for so long, and bats flew at his face and threatened to send him downwards faster then he wanted. He turned his face and looked below to see the computers were all off. The lights were also off, the caves cloaked in shadowy robes concealing their secrets from the world.

_With all the bats in here, it puts one to mind of Batman_, he thought solemnly, clutching at his ribcage with his left hand, the bones twisted around. His fight with Robin had also taken its toll on his hands too, but he was glad for that. It showed that Robin was still worth fighting and that he hadn't let time dull his capabilities.

But his mind went towards the young man soon after. He had known the boy was powerful, which was why he held back, but he hadn't expected the boy to be as strong as he was. If he had known, he might've fought harder to test the boy's capabilities. Slade smiled at that. His plans for Jump City were dependent on the Titans discovering the young man, and he had led them straight to him. _With that power, things will be far easier then expected_.

The stairwell now ended at a long hallway, its path taking various twists and turns and having multiple pathways. The tile floors had long since begun to crumble away, such that it was more earth then floor. Torches were in their sconces everywhere, but remained unlit, the oil and cloth having lost the capacity for igniting. His footsteps reverberated off the cavern walls, granting him company in that long wall down the abyss.

But he was now in the main foyer of his dank pit that he called home. It took him a few minutes to find the computer system in all the darkness. Inputting a few command sequences into the keyboard of his computer, the power slowly began to chime up. Lights finally flickered on ever so slowly, casting the cave in an eerie mixture of light and shadow that revealed just enough to see, but kept enough hidden. Slade had positioned the lights carefully to reflect his own demeanor, a man who will let you see a few hints of what he is but is otherwise an enigma.

Slade had also taken great care to bring in stained glass windows from churches that had fallen into disrepair, mostly depicting violent scenes from religious history. Long ago, he and his friend Wintergreen had found the spots within the cave's wall where it led to the side of the cliffs. They had begun to carve away at all the stone so that they could fasten the windows securely to let light in.

Slade's favorite happened to be of a man with a book in one hand, signifying the pursuit of knowledge, and a sword in the other signifying the desire for strength and safety. Fastened to his back was a shepherd's staff, signifying the ability to lead. But before him lay a storm, dark and violent, and to his side a vast drop with no bottom in sight. In the end, it meant that we pursue many things, but our paths are twofold: brave the dangerous road or plummet into the inevitable abyss.

_What lies in darkness determines the lives we lead. To know whether you can fly or not, you must first leap._

"Wintergreen! Where are you?" he cried out into the empty void.

As he slumped back into his chair, he began to ruminate on what his next course of action would be after he was done here. He thought it might be prudent to check in with Trigon again so as to avoid the would-be overlord's ire. But that'd necessitate running about in the sewers like a common brigand, something he detested. It was bad enough to be working for Trigon, but he was unable to wander the topside as he was wont to do. And it's not like the Titans hadn't already informed the police about his reappearance.

_Why, I expect Batman himself is looking into me now, at Gordon's request. One day, we'll have to see who the better warrior is_.

Closing his one good eye, Slade felt the urge to sleep. What sleep a seemingly undead shell of a man could acquire he didn't know, but sleep was hounding him these days. Even when alive, he hadn't slept very well, always tossing and turning. His memories always returned to his son Jericho and how he had failed him. The last he had heard of him, his son had left the city life and decided to live like a nature-oriented lifestyle. _It's good that he's not in this life._

Steps began to echo slightly within the cavern, bringing Slade back to reality. They were light as they shuffled along the floor. As he listened to them, he cupped his hand around his mask and removed it, the bare skull now concealed by nothing save for his own glove.

"You rang, sir?" a voice called out from the dark. When he stepped into the light, Slade was relieved to see that his old mentor was still around. He was an elderly man, the hair on his head having turned white from age and having begun the process of receding. Even so, he did not appear to be out of shape. Wearing a fine-pressed black shirt with a white tie and jacket, he seemed almost regal in appearance.

The last time Slade had seen him, Wintergreen had kept his face clean-shaven. These days, however, he had seen fit to grow a well groomed goatee of sorts.

"Wintergreen, it's good to see you're still here, old friend."

"I swore an oath. I would not break it, not even upon your death." He lowered his head, as if ashamed for what he was about to say next. "I must apologize for the sorrowful state that has befallen the mansion."

"Don't fret over it. Walls can be rebuilt, possessions reclaimed. That you stayed on is all that matters."

"If I may speak freely, sir?"

His British accent added a further air of charm to his demeanor. Slade seemed perturbed by the question though, not because the old war veteran wasn't allowed to speak but that he felt he needed to ask permission. "You can speak freely whenever you like. Your input is invaluable to me."

"Did you truly die?"

Slade wasn't surprised that Wintergreen had found out about his death. The two of them had so many contacts within the nation that even with the police's efforts to keep information on Slade from leaking out to the public under suspicion that he might not have died, it was bound to reach Wintergreen's ears eventually.

"I did", Slade said as he lowered his hand from his face, showing Wintergreen all that remained. His skull held only trace remnants of flesh and sinew, but for the most part it was all bone. His one good eye remained in the socket, a gift from Trigon when he was brought back from the brink of oblivion. Removing the clasps on his chest armor, he took it off and stood to show that he was no longer a man, but a mockery of life, the bones and muscles charred and fused together.

If Wintergreen seemed shocked by the grotesque display before him, his face did not display anything to hint at it. He stood there with a stoic expression on his face, his unflinching hazel eyes staring at his employer as if all was normal. The world could've ended and this man might not have batted an eyelash.

"Interesting", he said in a voice that didn't seem interested at all. Slade moved on to more immediate concerns.

"Wintergreen, I need you force these bones back in place. Afterwards, I'll need to leave."

"Would it not be best for them to heal naturally afterwards?"

"No need, once they're back in place the healing process will accelerate on its own."

He then forced himself to his feet, dragging his skinless remains towards a nearby table covered in lab equipment. Beakers, test tubes, microscopes, and many other things that hadn't been used in years rested there. Many were broken and in no fit shape to be used in Slade's experiments, so he threw his arms down on the table and sent the supplies flying to the floor. Unfastening the rest of his armor, he stripped down to nothing, which for anyone else might be inappropriate but what does all of that matter to a man with nothing worth hiding? As he lay down on the table, with nothing concealing his decimated body, sleep finally took hold of him.

Wintergreen had donned a pair of medical gloves pulled from a nearby supply closet and had fastened a gown around his waist, though he doubted that they were really necessary. When he approached, Slade woke up briefly only to hear his friend say that he should rest if he needed it, considering the events that were sure to follow. So Slade closed his one good eye and fell asleep, this time unable to break out of it.

In his mind's haze, he saw numerous things. He saw the Titans in their tower, with not a care in the world, though why they popped into his dreams he wasn't sure of. Beastboy was at the stove, cooking a new dish of tofu creations and trying his best to get his friends to eat it. Cyborg, the metal giant of a man, took the plate and tried it out of a desire to keep the green changeling quiet, but in the end he spat it out in anger, citing how it tasted like overripe socks kept in a warehouse on a hot day.

The music in the tower was exceedingly deafening, playing some new popular song the kids of the current generation were enamored with. Slade was a man of more… refined tastes, preferring classical music to this unseemly and obnoxious racket. It was hard for Slade to make out much of anything that was being said. Robin and Starfire were in the living quarters talking about their most recent mission in the outskirts of the city, but soon enough stopped to watch the television. There was a broadcast relating to a number of strange occurrences within the city, some matching the _modus operandi_ of certain enemies of the Titans.

Raven was in the corner, trying to drown out the combined noise levels of Cyborg's shouting at Beastboy, the music resounding throughout the tower, the television on the screen blasting the news reports, and the discussion between Starfire and Robin about the issues on the screen, all while trying to read six books at once. _Read as much as you like, Raven… in the end, your destiny is writ in stone._

Try as she might, the noise only grew louder and louder, so she slammed her books shut and called for everyone to be quiet. The sudden outburst drew the attention of the gang, with startled looks on their faces. Starfire was particularly distressed by it, flying over in her violet clothes and boots. She wanted to give Raven the 'hug of bears' to soothe her demeanor, but Raven just brushed her aside saying that she was fine and didn't need one.

Slade was unsure why he was seeing visions of the Titans. Had his obsession with them manifested in his own personal dreams, or was this a vision of what was currently happening? Or perhaps this was what he believed to be happening. He had been going after them for years now, in some form or another.

Regardless, soon enough he was drawn out of the tower and towards a mountain range, high in the clouds. At its summit was a young boy, fair of hair and dressed elegantly, playing a guitar as he took in the sights of the land, the skies only a hand's grasp overhead. The trees below were full in bloom, with mountain goats wandering back and forth. Hawks and eagles and falcons and ravens and all manner of other birds were dancing about in the sky.

"Jericho", Slade said, partially in emotional turmoil, his voice barely audible. Ever since his son Joseph had lost his voice, the boy had seemed to go by a different name. Whether it was out of a desire to live a different life or to forget the old one, Slade didn't know. But he didn't care either. His son was his son, and names need not matter.

The boy seemed happy, his golden locks swaying in a gentle breeze as his emerald eyes took in the vista. The song his son was playing sounded both joyful and sorrowful, something that could make you smile in the same moment as tears were flowing down your face.

Slade walked up the beaten stone path to talk to his son, hoping to apologize in some fashion to him. He didn't know how to do that, however. Slade viewed apologies as a sign of weakness, displays of emotion that could cripple you at the wrong moment. As an assassin, you have to distance yourself from people. Even your own family, which is harder then one would think. It's for the good of everyone, however, as a family with a distant father-figure make poor targets for blackmail. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to hold true to that mindset fast enough, and everyone paid the price for it in some form or another.

Sometimes people came to the conclusion that killing is easy. To Slade, it was, but there's always some lingering guilt at what you're doing. If they're not pedophiles, murderers, warlords, or anyone else deserving of death then it's hard to accept what you're doing. Someone that's just doing the day-to-day job of being a teacher in a war-torn area, a politician who's out to do good for the community, a government employee devoted to his country's well-being, or other decent people… that's always harder to accept.

The stones were beginning to swallow Slade's feet with each step, pulling at him as if ropes were tied about them, as if the hands of Hell itself were trying to take him down into those infernal levels for all the acts he's committed. But Slade would not give up. He had lost one son, lost a wife, lost his other children, and nearly lost his life. If Hell wanted him, it would have to do a better job then this.

So he pried his feet free with his hands, plunging them ever forward. Each step swallowed more of him then he realized, but his anger made him determined to move up that path. He was now halfway to his son, but as he turned he saw that the rocks weren't rocks at all. They were people, immortalized in stone with cries of pain on their faces as hands clawed away at them.

Slade looked up at the once pristine and cobalt blue sky, only to see it had turned a ghastly crimson shade, the clouds now black with hatred and sin. All the life in the world had withered away, bones struck into the earth like swords from a battlefield, coated in blood. Whether it was their blood or the blood of other people Slade didn't know.

At the head of the mountain, Jericho turned his head and silently stared at his father. For a moment, Slade thought he should pause. For a moment, he did, but the earth had started to turn to quicksand beneath his feet and had he lingered a moment longer, it would've been over then and there. But he moved onwards, and Jericho smiled at his father as he laid out his hand. Slade was now having far too much trouble ascending the steep mountain, so he moved to grab his son's hand. Inching it closer, he could feel the warmth of it…

…only for lightning to strike his son, turning him to stone with that smile affixed upon his face like a seal for a royal writ. His once golden hair was now grey granite, his green eyes now devoid of life. In the distance, millions of souls had been bound together into a gigantic spire, crying in anguish towards the heavens, their shrill cries piercing the silence of the world.

In the distance, Slade heard a laugh, horrifying and capable of sending shivers deep in a person's soul. It was deep with malice, not caring at all for anything. No emotion, save for hatred and anger, was contained within the owner of such a call.

"A new throne for my kingdom!" the voice cried out. "Let all tremble before the might of Trigon the Terrible! Is it not wondrous Slade?"

Slade could only look on in horror as his boy disappeared before his sight, the earth now clutching the criminal mastermind ferociously. He couldn't fight back, but even if he wished to he wouldn't. The sight of his son suffering a fate worse then death right in front of him, as he remained safe, took all the will from his body. And as he fell beneath the earth, his will came back and anger flourished within him, burning as hot and intensely as any of Trigon's spells.

"Jericho!" he cried out into the aether, and upon looking around saw that he had sat up violently in his abode, Wintergreen's eyes now staring at him.

If Wintergreen was perplexed by this strange sequence of events, his face said nothing. It was cold as ice, distant, and truly one could expect no less from a former SAS member.

"A dream about your son, sir?"

"A nightmare is what it was. Trigon thinks he knows me. Well, he's in for a rude awakening one day. Wintergreen…"

"Yes, sir?"

"See to it that all the necessary funds are allocated to rebuilding my home. Contact our people, the ones that informed you of my demise even as the police departments of both Gotham and here kept it a secret from the public. I find myself wanting to return home."

But as Slade got up from the table to leave and meet Trigon, his bones now set into place as he donned a repaired suit of armor, he wondered what a home was without family. Wintergreen was the closest thing he had now to a family. _Does the idea of family extend well and beyond what is immediately in your vicinity?_

**O~O~O**

Life in Titans Tower had been dull these last few days. Business was done as usual, with daily sweeps of the occasional "supervillain" going after some sort of device capable of finishing their colossal weapon that would reduce the city to a smoldering ruin ripe for conquest. Well, business insofar as the Titans considered it. For anyone else, these would be rather important events happening far too frequently.

But those were merely the days. The nights were far more… if not unusual, certainly not normal. At least for Raven. Lately, she'd been having nightmares of her destiny, seeing cities laid into ruins and people dying in the streets, their blood running red and causing small rivers to form. More often then not, she'd wake up screaming, and be momentarily thankful that it was all a dream.

Only for a moment, however. Quickly, she'd remember that it wasn't _just_ a dream, but a prophetic dream. A dream foretelling the events that were to play out on her next birthday, and it made her afraid. She'd huddle under her dark blankets, covered in the shadows of the night, and curl up into a ball. For all her emotional strength, her destiny made her afraid. Fear for what would befall a world she loved, fear for a fate that awaited her friends, and fear for how she was powerless to do anything about it.

She'd taken it upon herself to stay quiet, which wasn't unusual as far as Beastboy and Starfire were concerned. But she doubted she could fool Robin and Cyborg for much longer. Beastboy had come up with a dozen lame and bothersome jokes that she could've easily made a sarcastic remark towards, but she refrained from doing so.

But she had done her best to not lose focus on the here and now. In her patrols, she remained much the same as she had always been before Slade's re-emergence, more or less. Stone-faced and dutiful, working in tandem with her friends to take down their foes.

Today, she was resting in the lounge room of Titans Tower, secluded in a corner far away from everything else. Around her were six books, of varying topics, ranging from a tome on new spells entitled _The Chronicles of Ristmer_ which detailed the life of the mage's exploits in the eighth century, to _Dictionnaire Infernal_ by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy talking about the hierarchies of demons, which she not only found fascinating but necessary to understand should Trigon try to make use of Earth's demons. She wasn't sure if there was a Heaven or Hell, but she knew demons were very much real.

In her hands, however, was a book she hadn't found the time to read lately, a book about a wizard's battle with a dragon most foul. Between the battles in the city and the obnoxious noise Beastboy created half the time, she couldn't find the time to really sink herself into this book. She was studying the binding, noting how it was old. _Older then any other book I own, possibly older then the battle itself._

But the story wasn't all that was within it. There were spells and scrolls given vast detail. _The Gallian Scrolls_ were contained inside, along with the _Mortal Archives_, and other works that held immense knowledge and power.

But she wouldn't be able to read it here. Though it was quiet for the moment, Raven knew that sooner or later Beastboy, Starfire, or Cyborg would come in from their current patrol and loudly disrupt the serene tranquility of the room with desires for a champions' banquet. Or all of them would arrive at the same time. So she gathered her books using her mental powers and moved to fix a tall glass of hot herbal tea before setting out for her room.

As the door opened before her, she moved to her bed and set everything down on the bed-stand near it, holding only her tea in one hand and the book in the other. She opened to the first page of the story, far in the back of the hefty tome, and read it silently to herself.

_Here I, Malchior, will transcribe the story of how I faced the fell dragon Rorek in battles most terrible and nearly died in my pursuit. Here, I hope future generations will remember what happened and know that good deeds can be done, even in the most trying of circumstances._

_In those dark days, Rorek had enacted a terrible toll upon the land of England, razing villages all throughout the countryside in his bloodlust. Homes were set ablaze, villagers trampled beneath his feet if not having been his day's meal, land cast asunder into mass graves. The death toll was staggering._

_Many brave knights set forth at the king's command to try and slay the beast, but they found that he was no ordinary dragon. I was there beside my king when the lone survivor ventured back to us, missing an arm and suffering burns that destroyed much of his face. He was a fair lad, with blonde hair kept short, and the talk among the city was that he had bewitched many women with his charms and wit in years past. Before he had set off, however, he was to be married to a smith's daughter. The love of his life._

_I could see in his eyes that he thought he would never be able to settle down with his darling, however. But I thought that she would be happy that her knight had returned home, worse for wear being irrelevant. By his tales of the great battle waged, I knew at a moment's notice that the dragon was not only more dangerous then initially thought, but cunning._

_Swords and arrows broke against the dragon's skin like they were naught but twigs. The flame he commanded roasted men alive in their armor, but when he found that his fire would not avail him to reach certain foes he cast terrible spells. Spells commanding the darkest magicks, some forbidden for their evil and others not known to any man alive._

_The beast could speak._

_In the end, nearly all the knights had been killed. Only four had managed to survive the attack, and three had died on their way back to see the king. I took it upon myself to implore his majesty that such a beast could not be slain by normal means, so magical means must be employed. Reluctantly, he consented for me to go out, but not before I took it upon myself to gather arms and armor and see fit that they were enchanted. A magical weapon and suit of mail was better then colorful robes._

_And so it was with eagerness and the fond farewells of the citizens that I made my journey's start, being certain –_

Before Raven could continue, however, her communicator started to flash and beep. Closing the book and casting it aside gently, she opened the handheld device to see Cyborg on the other end.

"Raven! We could really use your help out here!" Cyborg shouted as he focused his sonic blaster on some unseen enemy.

"Cinderblock shouldn't be giving you this much trouble." She said in reply. Earlier in the day, the Titans received an alert signifying that the stone brute was causing havoc in the city. Four people had already been killed by his rampages, but Cyborg thought that sending Starfire, Beastboy, and going out himself would be more then enough to take him down. Robin had gone out to Gotham City to talk with his mentor about Slade, so command naturally fell to the Tower's technician.

Cyborg had ducked behind a building's alley now, having scarcely avoided a large piece of concrete having been thrown at him. Peering around the corner, he noted he had a brief reprieve from the onslaught.

"He's not the problem!" he shouted at her. "We've got Plasmus and Overload out here as well! Starfire's taking on that oversized surge protector and Beastboy's taking on that damn blockhead, but we're getting our asses handed to us since we're split up!"

Raven nodded. Alone, any of the three weren't much of a threat. Even together, they could be handled easily by using their own attacks against them. But Cyborg's comments told Raven that the three enemies of the Titans **weren't** together ever in this battle, but had rather split up sometime prior, making it harder to take them down. And then she remembered that they were Slade's cronies, noting that this was no doubt another of his ploys. Worse still, with the three of them out in force, casualties were bound to swell from four to potentially four dozen at least.

"I'll be right there." She said gravely as she closed the communicator, donning her dark blue cape and melted into the shadows.

Appearing on the other side of the bay, she found herself at the exact street Cyborg was located at. It was near the pizzeria they all frequented, a normally busy and bustling section of the city that was now rendered as still as a graveyard, though thankfully without as many occupants. Plasmus had taken a tanker of radioactive chemicals and pried it open, drinking its contents. The green liquid poured into the blob's gaping maw as if it were nothing but an energy drink.

Cars had come to a screeching halt some minutes prior, some having been upended and others were just strewn about haphazardly, as if a child had fun with a bunch of toy cars but failed to clean up. Others still had exploded due to Plasmus' rampage, leaving nothing but flaming wrecks in their place.

Raven didn't seem to pay the hulking multi-eyed monstrosity much heed, simply looking around for her fellow Titan so they could coordinate their attacks. Floating towards the pizzeria, she saw that many citizens had taken refuge in its walls, hoping for an end to the fight to soon follow. All of them were rightly scared, for they wouldn't be a match for fighting something of the likes of Plasmus, Cinderblock, or Overload.

Turning, she saw Cyborg standing in front of her. His metal skin glistened in the sunlight, shining like polished steel. He had always been a giant of a man, but Raven couldn't help but feel like today he was unusually taller in aura. Perhaps it had something to do with that determined look plastered on his face, something rarely seen as he'd often joke around in the heat of battle.

"Tall, dark, and ugly over there's really trying my patience." Though his wording was slightly jocular, his tone indicated more annoyance and rage then anything else. "Dude's been trying to cover my body with that acid spit of his and he's doing way too much damage to the city."

Raven had hardly noticed it, but three of the buildings had melted exteriors as a result of the acid hitting them. She could see offices with cubicles and curious onlookers, displaying no sense as they took pictures on their phones and cameras instead of making sure they were safe. She could see the inside of a video store, where a dozen people were all huddled in a corner gripping one another, hoping that the blob monster wouldn't come near them. She saw an empty library, with many of its books now sadly having fallen to ruin as a result of the creature's spit.

Raven agreed after taking in everything that the city couldn't fare much more of this fiend's outrage, more so with his allies elsewhere causing even more chaos. By now, the creature was done downing the contents of his tanker tankard, and threw the remnants across the city. It collided with a sedan and a minivan, with the gasoline now spilling out in force. A spark fell upon it from the screeching the metal had performed against the black pavement, and a roiling inferno burst into the sky, a tower now spreading out across the city's streets.

Raven gathered herself into her traditional meditating pose, hoping to summon her strength for an assault on the creature that would end this part of the battle once and for all. Crossing her legs and closing her eyes, she journeyed deep into her soul.

_Azarath Metrion Zinthos_, she said quietly under her breath. _Azarath Metrion Zinthos_ she said again and again. Cyborg knew what she was doing from years of training sessions and time working together, so he laid down some cover fire. His sonic blasts rippled across the street, the blue waves almost rendered purple at the source by the light of the inferno. Chunks of Plasmus' flesh broke off with each blast, dripping onto the concrete, and one blast even took the beast squarely in the eye. The fluid from it poured out on top of the broken creature's oozing flesh, sending it back in a rage of pain and fury. It stood there, taking in everything, and roared again loud as ever and charged.

Cyborg was struck clear in the chest as he tried to intercept the creature, flung all the way across the battlefield and trapped beneath a pile of rubble. As his last measure, he now opened fire with a dozen rockets from his shoulders, all locked on to their massive target. They missed, their objective having morphed his body so that he could deftly avoid them, turning himself into multiple smaller enemies. Thankfully, Cyborg anticipated such a thing and had the missiles replaced with heat-seeking ones, which turned around in mid-flight and followed Plasmus. Some had hit the ground trying to compensate for the new course they followed, but most of them hit the various incarnations of the liquid abomination, spraying him in all directions. Now, he decided to reform into his whole self, hoping to take advantage of Raven's meditated state.

But he was too late, as Raven was now ready to finish the battle.

"_Azarath Metrion Zinthos_!" she shouted into the air, her eyes now glowing with darkened fury.

As her soul-self left her body, it poured into the hulking brute and took him by surprise. She let loose a surge of dark energy, and the beast swelled up like a balloon, desperately clawing at his own body and trying to remove the threat. But it was pointless, as Raven was in an ethereal form.

Crying out in pain, the body became horrendously distended, before bursting from the seams and coating the street in slime and ooze. In a crater formed by the explosion rested a lean man, unconscious and asleep, wearing nothing to conceal his pride but his smallclothes. As Raven returned to her body, she lifted the rubble from her comrade. Cyborg began quickly working on creating a soundproof stasis pod for the man to be locked away in that would also keep him asleep, while she began scanning the city for the other Titans' aura.

"Beastboy's at Fifth Street, fighting in a construction area. Starfire's in the business district of the city."

Cyborg was rapidly finishing up the stasis chamber, one of the many benefits of being having cybernetic prosthetics across your body. As he made the finishing touches, he signaled the T-Car to come around the corner and park itself near them. Raven used her magical powers to lift the sleeping giant into the pod, wherein Cyborg sealed it airtight and left a note for the Jump City Police Department that read "_A gift from the Teen Titans. One not meant to be opened._"

The drive throughout the city streets was longer then Raven initially thought it would be. With all the traffic along the roads trying to avoid the chaos, Cyborg had to carefully navigate his way through the shifting cars. Some people were irate with him as he did this, at first, until they saw firsthand who was trying to move throughout the traffic. Then the cars began to part like the Red Sea at Moses' command, allowing Cyborg to drive quickly down the streets.

"So, Raven, you've been awfully quiet these last few days." Cyborg said to try and pass the time as they now passed by the theater.

She denied the assertion, saying that Cyborg was imagining things. The metal giant, however, was not so easily misled.

"BB's made at least a dozen of those things he calls jokes and you've been as quiet as a mouse. Something's eating away at you, and don't try to tell me there isn't anything."

"It's nothing", she said not caring for Cyborg's demands. He stared at her for a moment before dropping the matter. Raven supposed he would let her deal with it in her own time. _Either he thinks I'll get over it or he's letting me choose when to talk about it._ Though she wouldn't let her face show such a thing, she was grateful. But she knew the ride was going to be filled with all sorts of maneuvering through the roads, so she decided to break the awkward silence with a similar subject.

"What about Robin? He seems like the one we should be worrying about."

Cyborg let out a heavy sigh, indicating he was on the same track more or less. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, and he turned down the radio's news program so he wouldn't be drowned out.

"Yeah, he's worrying me too. Fact is, all of you are, except for Star. I'd be worried if she _was_ acting normal, to be honest. You've been more withdrawn lately since Slade came back, BB's still dealing with Terra, and Robin's got massive Slade issues. I thought the days of him visiting the Shrine to Slade were over, but now he's in there twice as much as he ever was. We're lucky if the little pipsqueak comes out to eat at all. Now he's asking us to leave his meals at the door, but lately we've been finding the food untouched each morning."

_He's not exaggerating_, she knew that much. Robin **had** taken to secluding himself within the evidence room, specifically the area devoted to Slade. After Slade's fall, all the relevant information and objects pertaining to the masked figure had been boxed away, but Robin brought them all out again as soon as they got back from the warehouse Slade made his resurrection known.

Twice had Slade managed to turn a member of the Titans against them, and both had bitter memories lingering in the group. Robin's "apprenticeship" to Slade, as their nemesis so liked to call it, had long since been washed away in terms of mistrust between the Titans… but that didn't mean a mark wasn't left. After Robin had nearly sacrificed himself to save the rest of the group, he became even more obsessed then ever.

For all his strengths, Robin would never let something like that go. The vendetta had slowly become an obsession, Raven knew, and she saw it firsthand when Robin was under the effects of a hallucinogenic agent triggered by Slade's mask and she journeyed into his mind. The images were hazy, stacked on top of one another, but for every one of his old life she saw there was another relating to Slade.

And yet, what could any of them do? The last time it was brought up, which was upon returning from the valley excursion, Robin had yelled at all of them for a half-hour. Starfire was visibly distraught by it, as she was the one to mention the connection, and when she tried to calm Robin down and apologize for bringing it up, the boy wonder wrenched his arm free suddenly and violently.

Starfire turned, a single tear rolling down her cheek, and stormed out in anger.

Robin soon realized how he was acting and went to her room to apologize himself. Raven was in with her then, providing what comfort she could – which wasn't much, as she wasn't sure what to say or do. But Starfire was grateful for her presence nonetheless as she let loose a flurry of Tamaranean phrases that were probably curses and insults. When Robin knocked on the door, it took another half-hour for Starfire to accept it.

"I think he's letting this go too far", Raven said bluntly with her eyes closed. "Obsessing over him won't do any good."

"You can say that again. I think Robin's also concerned about that mystery guy we saw, the one that kicked Slade's ass, trying to piece together how he fits into all of this. I'm not even sure what to think about him. The kid just vanished into thin air."

"You heard him when Beastboy went over to him. He was angry, fearful, and didn't want anything to do with us."

The streets were now becoming emptier and emptier; as if the city had been evacuated save for what few denizens chose to eke out their existence here, for better or worse. The sky was now losing its lustrous blue shade as darkness swept over the city, the sun now buried beneath the weight of a coming storm.

"That's just it Raven", Cyborg said as he shook his head and made a left turn onto the highway, the easiest way down to the business area. "Why would he be afraid of us, angry at us? We didn't do anything to him."

Before Raven could voice her opinions on why, Starfire flew back at them, and not of her own volition. Electricity crackled all around her as she smashed into the pavement of the highway overpass, a silvery blue stream projecting the trajectory she had followed, culminating in Cyborg skidding to a complete stop to avoid hitting her.

"Friends Cyborg and Raven!" she shouted as she pulled herself from the destroyed pass. "It is good to see you!"

The two Titans, different in almost all regards, exited the vehicle and greeted their exotic friend. She had a remarkable resilience to her, able to endure wounds that might undo lesser people. Aside from a layer of dirt encrusting her body from the fight, there was nothing to indicate she had been in a brawl at all.

Starfire took them aside and regaled them with what she had found out about Overload's mission, which was to say nothing at all. Just like Plasmus had not been seeking anything, neither had Overload been on any mission of any import. It seemed that the three monstrous beings' mission was simply to spread chaos, but that struck Raven as too… simplistic, too clean.

In the distance, a blue light gleamed in the crisp orange skyline through the grey clouds now settling in. Moving towards them with amazing speed, it was easy to note that it was not a star, but the way it was falling it seemed as if the heavens were plunging a singular sword down at the Titans. The glass of the skyscrapers reflected it briefly, and Starfire readied her star bolts for battle. Crashing to the ground, a tall being of pulsating energy came trailing out, screeching as it did so.

Overload was now hopping from car to car, sapping them of their strength and increasing his own. With each battery he drained, his size grew larger. His blackened chip with streaks of crimson formed what could only lightly be called a face in that surge of energy he called a body, and as he neared the T-Car he began to try to take all of its energy…

…before a sonic ripple sent him flying across the highway, scared citizens ducking for cover or running away to try and avoid the fighting now plaguing this section of the city. Cars fell on top of Overload as he finally stopped moving. As Cyborg retracted his cannon, his eyes were like two great gems of ice, cold and merciless.

"Nobody touches my baby."

The vehicle pileup that had trapped the rogue AI now flew out in a rampage, his metal prison now exploding all around him, turning the highway into a fiery ring. A light rain had begun to form, pattering against Raven's grey skin and seeping into her eyes and mouth, causing her to draw up her hood. Cyborg had no such luxury, as the rain steadily came down harder and harder upon his dark skin and titanium exoskeleton. But it didn't bother him. Cyborg liked the feel of the rain against his skin, he had told Raven once before. It reminded him that he was still human in part.

Starfire also enjoyed the rain. On Tamaran, rain was a cause for celebration, where battles would routinely happen. Her home world was now a mere shell of its former self, a lush oasis rife with vibrant beauty all around laid waste into a desert of naught but death. The rain helped what little flora survived the Gordanian assault thrive and, on the whole, helped the people of Tamaran survive.

Overload, however, detested the rain. His one critical weakness, being little more then an overpowered circuitboard, was that the water sapped away his strength. He began to slowly shrink down with each drop that hit his body, until it came to the point where he found shelter beneath an overturned tanker.

The three Titans took advantage of this lull in the battle to scour the area for all manner of things to spray at their foe. Raven chanted her usual mantra to take control of a fire hydrant, while Cyborg noted a large shipping truck had been in the back containing gallons of water. He and Starfire promptly took control of the cargo, Cyborg hurling the jugs of water at Overload while Starfire sent green bolts of energy on a collision course with them, her eyes afire like great jade serpents coiling in circles.

All at once the water drenched their foe. From the right, the fire hydrant struck the circuit board. From the left, the water from each giant flagon of water exploded and drenched the electrical beast. Each blast upon the creature was like a great thing of bricks knocking him about like a weathervane. Anytime the water knocked him out of his metal pavilion, he hissed and snarled, and sent bursts of lightning against Cyborg and Raven. The two of them were sent flying, now unable to provide any assistance at the moment.

Starfire had now run out of water to use, but Overload had grasped a potential way to increase his power. The brutish monstrosity ripped a metal pipe from the underside of an old pick-up truck and strode out of his hut, as if there were nothing for him to fear. The rain was coming down in force now, heavy and causing the clothes of everyone around to become sodden with dampness.

Overload didn't care. He simply laughed and raised the metal rod to the sky, and the worst possible thing transpired. A lightning bolt struck the rod, sending waves of energy pouring into him. His form swelled up to twice the size as when the Titans originally faced him. His laughter now sounded worse then ever, now deep with confidence as his gargantuan figure stood above them like a god amongst men. Cyborg looked on in dismay as he began to scan Overload's energy levels from a distance.

"One more bolt of electricity like that and he'll have enough energy to wipe out half the city!"

"We must not let that happen!" Starfire cried out, her eyes now letting loose a flurry of starbolts from her hands, targeting all the cars around the energy fiend.

The resulting explosions took him unawares, sending him stumbling back. Cyborg took advantage of the opportunity to hurl three cars at him that exploded on impact, while Raven's control of the fire hydrant now doused Overload to the core. His screeches resounded throughout the city streets, and as he attempted to reach for the metal rod again he was cut off by Starfire, hurling herself into him and sending him flying down across the highway and into the metropolis proper.

He snarled once more, and sent waves of lightning coursing throughout the concrete, rocks and steel flying at the Titans. Though Raven and Starfire managed to dodge the ones headed towards them, her bionic ally was not so lucky, having been flung across the battlefield.. And the ones Raven had avoided were now on a collision course with various citizens. Not wanting them harmed or even involved more then was necessary Raven cast an ebony shield atop the citizens that would retain itself even without her focus until battle's end.

Starfire flew after Cyborg and caught him mid-flight. He had enough, and he was reasonably certain the rest of the Titans were tired of this overly drawn out fight as well. In a daring gambit, he urged Starfire to toss him at Overload with all her might, and so she did. Flying throughout the sky, he braced himself for what might be a poor move. As he attacked Overload head on and grappled with the beast, he absorbed some of the currents running throughout its body into his own. Not expecting such a thing, Overload fell to his knees.

Weakened, he reverted to a smaller size, the rain now ebbing away at his power consistently. Soon enough, the Titans' combined efforts resulted in them whittling him down to a dull crackling beast of tiny insignificance. As he tried to run away, now overwhelmed with fear, Cyborg loomed overhead and hocked a large glob of spit, finally reducing the creature to his bare essentials.

"Man that took way too long…" Cyborg said as he reached down to pick up the chip, which he then handed over to the authorities, who had arrived just now with Beastboy in tow.

"Guys, guys!" the green changeling shouted at them, darting across the highway battlefield waving his arms about.

He was bloodied and bruised, his clothes torn and frayed. The blood was coming down in large rivulets from his arm and head, covering the greater part of his face with a red smear. Though he had suffered at the hands of his bout with Cinderblock, he seemed to be well enough to run over to them.

"Beastboy! You have taken care of the Cinderblock?" Starfire asked as she gave him a hug so tight that it might've cracked a bone or two, for she was worried at seeing him in such a state. It left him unable to gasp for air.

"Can't… breathe." He said meekly, to which she released him with a smile. As he regained his breath, he brought his hands to his knees to keep himself from falling over. Raven could sense he had something to say.

"Took down ol' Blockhead all on your lonesome?" Cyborg teased; now back to his more jovial self, or at least more of it.

"Heh, yeah. I managed to take him down near the old abandoned library." He pointed behind his back towards a large crane, the contents of which were the stone giant, trapped and unable to escape. "The EMTs managed to look me over afterwards to make sure I was okay."

"A joyous day!" Starfire said with glee.

Beastboy, however, did not reciprocate the enthusiasm, something Raven noted with a curious stare.

"What's on your mind?"

Beastboy hesitated a moment before speaking. He opened his mouth, but the words caught on the tip of his tongue. For half a heartbeat, Raven thought he was going to come up with some inane quip like all the other times and not mention what was truly bothering him, but she was wrong on that front.

"Guys… I saw him."

"Him who? Slade?" Cyborg asked, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow. Beastboy shook his head.

"No, I saw that kid who went ballistic on me, down at the library. The one from the valley."


	3. Chapter 3: Phantoms

**A/N:** Skip ahead once more, my patient viewers, if you just want the story.

So this chapter is exceptionally long. It's three point of view chapters. The first two are Robin, the second Cyborg, the third our mysterious figure. I'm starting to get a better feel for how I want this series to progress, and I feel I should talk about something from chapter 1.

When I said my character isn't a Mary Sue – technically Marty Stu would be more apropos – I don't mean to say I won't accept criticism saying he seems like he is. Not that anyone's talked about this in regards to my fanfic, but I felt that just leaving things as they were would be giving the wrong impression. It's just that I don't think that term is really used appropriately these days. Doesn't mean I won't accept anyone's criticism saying such or read it.

I'm desperately pouring over every inch of what I have in mind for him and going "This doesn't seem Sue-ish does it?". To be honest, I don't think he's going to come off as such. As you'll see, he's not warping the character's personalities and characterization to make them adore him right off the bat. Well, not everyone. The ones that do are shown in the series to actually display that type of mindset.

Also, what I may have trouble with is conveying certain things about my character, which as I understand it is part of why people see characters as being Sue-ish. If so, I'll gladly elaborate. The beauty of is at least that I can go back and edit each chapter accordingly, so if I think of some vital tidbit that adds more depth to the story I can add it. Not ideal, but it's better then it being left to rot and at least I can note my mistakes.

I also seem to have trouble describing my character. Mainly how to describe his face. I **know** what he looks like; it's just how to put it into words that I can't really do aside from his hair. Although… well, I won't say what I'm thinking about this character just yet. Perhaps in a chapter far down the line in an author's note.

Finally, we'll meet our new blood in the next chapter, and I'll post in the Author's note a language translation. It'll be a simple thing, just swapping out letters for another, as that will allow me to easily have him speak a new language without it being 1) gibberish and 2) a chore to think of new words. Admittedly, it will look kinda funny, but all that matters is that it can be pronounced - not that it looks like it can be pronounced, but just that it CAN be pronounced.

Next thing: I see people are _reading_ my fanfic, but you're not _reviewing_ it! Why, people, must you torment me so with such things? How can I ever hope to get better if you don't review? If I'm bad, I encourage you to tell me where it seems weak. If I'm good, I encourage you to tell me what you liked the most. If it's slow, let me know.

A writer's primary tool of expertise is criticism, if you ask me. Without that, our writing remains stagnant.

Now, enjoy this chapter, my friends!

Chapter 3: Phantoms.

_The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then. – Thomas Carlyle_

**O~O~O**

"So that's basically it."

Bruce Wayne's icy cold blue eyes stood affixed to Robin as the young lad finished summarizing the events concerning Slade, everything from when they had first heard his name uttered by the H.I.V.E academy students to his death to his apparent resurrection to his pursuit of Raven and the mysterious figure they met in the valley. Some of it Bruce already knew about, like how Robin had stolen from Wayne Industries when he was blackmailed to work for Slade, but it always helped to know the full story rather then isolated incidents.

Bruce sat there, silent as a statue, taking in everything. On occasion he'd lift his spoon to sip away at the venison stew before him, but that was the extent of his movements. To anyone else, they might be unnerved by how reserved the young billionaire was, especially since he was known to have a jovial personality in public. But Robin wasn't "anyone else". He had studied under the man firsthand and knew full well that when Bruce kept his face as still as he did, it was because he considered the matter important. Those eyes could pierce any man's front and get them to reveal the truth.

While Bruce had scarcely touched his bowl, Robin had proceeded to eat all of his. He always appreciated Alfred's cooking, noting it a far sight better then what the Titans usually ate. Not that what they ate was terrible, Robin thought, but it just couldn't compare to how Alfred cooked. The man took venison, potatoes, onions, and carrots and threw them in a pot of water alongside cloves of garlic, bay leaves, oregano, and let the stew cook itself. Setting the bowl aside, he began to take tiny bites of a piece of garlic bread with herbs interwoven throughout, lightly buttered. As soon as he had started, Bruce leaned forward to speak.

"What more can you tell me about this young man?" he asked, steepling his fingers.

Robin set his bread down in the bowl and looked up.

"Not much. He's powerful able to control the elements, that much we know, and Slade considers him important. But we're not sure why. He didn't seem to want anything to do with us when Beastboy walked over to greet him. He used his powers to knock him away and shouted in an alien language."

"He's afraid."

Robin nodded, crossing his arms over his chest and shutting his eyes. When all he could see was the darkness before him, he was able to think clearly. "Yeah, that's what Raven said. We've tried to learn more about him, but the database at the Tower hasn't turned up anything. All we have to go off of are what we know of him and a single white feather we found belonging to him."

That seemed to take Bruce back a bit. Mastery over the elements was one thing, but this?

"He has wings?"

"So we suspect – at least two - and given how fast he seemed to flee from us it seems likely."

The sunlight was now rippling through the windows in the dining hall, basking the room in a warm glow. The chandelier overhead reflected the light like a shield, sending it dancing across the corners of that long room. Outside, in the garden, Alfred could be seen tending to the plants. Pigeons and crows and ravens and hummingbirds were flying overhead, chirping and caw-cawing, as he walked around.

Bruce stood from his chair slowly, casually walking over to the window in his expensive suit. Looking out at the sky, he saw it was a pristine blue, with not a cloud in sight. As he gazed up into the horizon, Robin began to wonder if he was trying to see if the Justice League's tower was visible.

The Tower had been constructed in the void of space two years or so prior, in response to an almost catastrophic invasion of Earth that had crippled the defenses of the entire world and reduced many cities to being naught but debris-filled remnants of their former selves. Many citizens had died in the initial assault, though each nation was quick to evacuate the majority of the population from the cities under siege.

Even so, had the invasion continued for much longer it would've been disastrous for the world, economically and spiritually. So Superman and Batman resolved to gather up all the heroes of Earth and have them reside in a tower in the sky, watching down with restless eyes upon the planet for any signs of trouble.

So far, that had been the best course of action. Anytime the Earth was threatened, the Justice League was able to make a swift and united assault against those interfering, though Robin wondered why they had never shown themselves in Jump City. He surmised that it was simply due to the obvious: Jump City had its own band of heroes that could immediately deal with threats to the area while the rest of the world did not.

Robin also began to wonder if he should rectify that by instituting new bands of Titans. So far, there were only two groups of Titans: his own and those in Steel City. Beyond that, they had a fair number of honorary Titans scattered about.

Before he could think further on the subject, however, Bruce spoke up.

"Robin, walk with me to the parlor."

And so they did, throughout the large halls adjoined to the dining area and into the small room, a fireplace alight with flames sweeping up through the chimney, black smoke firing away into the pristine air and losing itself amongst the forests beyond. All around were a number of books, on shelves twice as tall as Robin was. Bruce casually sat down and motioned for Robin to do the same.

"The League has been interested in Slade for a while now, I must admit. But none of us have been able to track down many leads as to who he is, what he wants with Jump City, or what his past is. The man's covered his tracks well."

"So what do you know?" Robin asked, his hands resting on his knees.

"Bits and pieces, mostly from what we've seen of him. He's expertly trained, which points to a military background more then likely. He's capable of formulating plans on the fly, even should something go wrong, which tells us he's vastly more intelligent then most of the fools we face."

Bruce let out a heavy sigh as he stopped, telling Robin there was more to hear. Robin narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, wondering just what his mentor would tell him next.

"And he knows his enemies well. He knows his friends well. He's able to deduce how they'll act. He has no qualms about killing if it advances his goals. He can manipulate people to his whim, has an assortment of technological instruments at his disposal. All this you and I and our allies know. The man is a darker rendition of the Batman, with no moral boundaries."

Robin bristled at that last comment, his nostrils flaring. He said nothing, but Bruce knew what he was thinking nonetheless. Robin's hands clenched around the armrests of the chair.

"I know that's the last thing you want to hear, but there's no denying it. To ignore it would be foolish, Robin. You'd just be letting him get to you, and in the end he'd win."

Robin refused to accept it still. There was no way in hell he'd believe for a moment that Slade was anything like his mentor. Doing so would admit that Slade was just as instrumental to Robin as Bruce was. Bruce had taken him in when his parents were killed in what some believed to be an "accident", but Robin knew to be murder by the hands of one Tony Zucco.

In the end, he looked up to Bruce as a father-figure, which helped him deal with the loss of his parents. Bruce looked after him, trained him, consoled him, empathized with him as they had suffered near-exact circumstances. Bruce was compassionate and stern, fair and moral, just and intimidating. It'd be fair to say that Robin did greatly idolize the man.

Slade was none of those things. He was ruthless and harsh, amoral and showing no regard for the law, a man preying on society for his own agenda. He blackmailed Robin in helping him, threatening his friends' lives if he refused. Robin would not forget such a black mark. It was one thing for Slade to be a criminal, but he had made things personal.

"I can see you still won't accept it. That's fine. Just know that you're limiting yourself. They say our deepest enemies are often bitter reflections of ourselves, if not someone closely linked to who we are. Now, you said Slade had power over fire?"

"Yes", Robin affirmed. "On his forehead was a strange symbol, carved in fire, that wasn't there before. It looked like a corrupted 'S', near as I could tell."

Bruce pondered that for a while, as he stared blankly into the fires. That was when he would try to recollect some vital piece of information, Robin remembered, if it was instrumental to a mission. What was but a minute and a half felt like an eternity as Robin sat there in the silence, the only noise being the crackling of the flames. Bruce shook his head finally, signifying a lack of knowledge.

"For what it's worth, this isn't the first time I've seen it before. Slade used a double-sided medallion with its image scrawled on one side to summon a monstrous demon of fire years ago. Here."

Robin then fumbled through his pockets to bring out the relic. It was old, copper forged, yet time had done nothing to eat away at its surfaces. Polished to a brilliant sheen, the light from the fire danced in its view. Robin could've sworn that as he pulled it out, the flames grew stronger and more violent, but perhaps that was a trick of the mind.

Bruce examined it carefully in his hands, tracing the engraving with his finger. True to Robin's word, the mark in question did look as was described. On the other side was what looked like a corruption of the number five. What significance that had seemed to elude Robin's mentor just as much as it had him.

"By the sound and look of things, this is tied to the occult."

Before Robin could form a reply acknowledging Bruce's suspicions on the matter, his communicator at his belt blipped on and off, chirping its musical rhythmic chime. Grasping it in his hand, he flipped it open to see Cyborg on the other end.

"Cyborg? I thought I told you I was going to be gone for the rest of the day."

The cybernetic giant on the other end rubbed the back of his head in a mix of shame and apprehension. "Yeah man, sorry about calling you when you're visiting old friends and all, but… we've got a situation."

Robin noted that Cyborg was calling from the medical wing of Titans Tower, and his eyes widened in fear. Cinderblock shouldn't have posed **this** much trouble. Cyborg, however, took note of this sense of dread and spoke up.

"No no! None of us are hurt but… well…", he finished by letting out a heavy sigh as he trailed off, looking in the direction of the bed. "Just, you might want to cut your trip short."

"Alright. I'm on my way."

Bruce sat there, silent as ever, while Robin conversed with his ally and friend, brief as it may have been. He poured a tall glass of red wine from a bottle taken from a nearby cabinet. Robin closed his comm unit and stood from his chair.

"Leaving so soon?"

Robin seemed apologetic in his demeanor. "Something important seems to have come up."

"I understand. Such is the nature of our jobs. A moment's respite is but that. You'll find the R-Cycle in the Batcave where Alfred moved it, pointed towards the path that leads out to the highway. In the meantime, I'll hold onto this and bring up Slade with the League in the coming days. Do stop by again sometime, though."

Robin turned on his heels and walked out from the parlor and into the main study, filled with a plethora of books, both rare and common. In the distance pressed firmly against the wall was an old grandfather clock, worth thousands of dollars for what it was but worth infinitely more for what secrets it held behind it.

He then gingerly moved the hands of the clock's face to the time of Bruce Wayne's parents' demise. As the hour hand struck its mark, the clock groaned loudly, sliding to the left and revealing the stairwell leading to the Batcave. Robin had spent many days and nights calling Wayne Manor, in all of its glory new and old, his home. Now, it was simply a memento, a reminder of days gone by, but he felt a warm nostalgia having now descended these steps once more.

Off in the corner, the bats were hanging from the ceiling, sleeping perhaps. Or perhaps watching Robin, glad that he had stopped by. It was strange, but the bats in the cave had never bothered either of the caped crusaders. Rather, they seemed to feel at home with their presence, as if it was a natural part of how things should be, the most they'd do being to fly around them and perch on their shoulders. And Robin felt the same way. It was hard to imagine the underground hollow without its furry denizens. He enjoyed their company, and he was certain Batman felt the same way.

But as much as he'd like to greet them, to spend time with them, he couldn't. At least not now. Perhaps within the following month? Regardless, he needed to get back to Jump City, so he ran from the base of the steps to the R-Cycle. Jumping on, he donned his crimson helmet and lowered the visor, finishing up by revving the engines. In the distance, the bats flew from their points all around the cave, a great sweeping cloak of black shadow enveloping the cave. Before they knew what was happening, Robin had set off through the passage.

**O~O~O**

_A few hours later_

"You found him like this?" Robin asked, still wearing his helmet, only now the visor was lifted.

Starfire nodded, her head lowered in sorrow. She was sitting beside the bed, hoping that just her presence would serve as some means for the teen's health to bounce back. That was her nature, always concerned about people even if she didn't know them. "Beastboy led us to the abandoned library where the Cinderblock was defeated."

"Blockhead was taken care of and shipped to jail, but according to BB in the middle of the old library the kid was out like a light on the floor. The EMTs brought him to us and BB swears up and down the kid didn't fight at all and that Blockhead hadn't even come close to him."

Robin found it curious that Cinderblock was in the same area as the adolescent, but didn't want to voice those concerns. Not yet. He wanted to find out just a bit more before bringing it up.

The medical bay of Titans Tower was normally empty, though Cyborg had seen fit to keep it up to date with the latest in medical advancements. Just because it was rarely used didn't mean it should be left to dust and squalor.

Even so, Cyborg, whenever he was injured, tended to have more technological hindrances to his well-being, which he could easily repair on his own. Starfire's remarkable endurance kept her from being seriously injured either. At most, she would have a bruise here or there, but Robin couldn't recall a single instance where it was vital for her to visit the medical bay.

The same was true for Raven. She hadn't really been injured in battle such that a trip to the medical wing was necessary. The only thing that came to mind was during the Adonis Incident from a year prior, where Raven had been assaulted by the arrogant wannabe villain in a chemically transformed beastlike state, leaving her in a trance of sorts.

Beastboy and Robin tended to be the more frequent visitors to that area of the Tower, with broken bones and serious injuries all over, blood dripping down onto the white sheets. Raven usually used her powers to tend to them, easily capable of mending such wounds. Even then though, Raven had always said they should have at least a day and a half off from active duty. Beastboy, being the impatient one, could never do that. He would always move about the Tower in a fuss, Robin recalled. Sometimes it made things worse, sometimes not.

As it was, he did exactly that upon returning to the Tower. His wounds weren't anywhere near being fatal, having been taken care of before he reunited with his friends. But even so, Raven had urged him to stay in bed, just so that he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks. When he refused and started cooking in the kitchen, he ended up fainting and had to be carried back to the medical wing, where he reluctantly said he'd rest for a few hours.

Now, however, the medical bay had a new tenant. The boy they had seen in the valley, with his lengthy dark brown hair sweeping down well past the base of his neck, was unconscious upon the bed, covered with dirt and grime evidencing he hadn't had a proper shower in some time. His heavenly white wings were enfolding him like a cocoon. Robin noted that he didn't have just two like the Titans originally thought, but six.

"Six wings…"

"Weird, huh?" Beastboy said with a slight smirk, leaning against the wall near the door. "He looks like he's trying to go to a toga party."

Robin ignored the joke and began to study the boy's face, hoping to glean something from it. It was no use. Beyond the fact that a feeding tube was hooked up to him, his expression was calm, devoid of any showing of what was going through his mind. _Not that it would matter much anyway, given the language barrier_. Robin knew that they wouldn't be able to gather any information from him so long as they couldn't communicate with each other.

"What's with the tubes?" Robin asked, stepping away from the bed.

Raven was in the corner, looking frustrated as ever. Robin picked up immediately that she was not happy about bringing someone they didn't know into the Tower. It wasn't any hatred against the boy himself, but rather a distrust sewn since Terra's betrayal. _Once bitten, twice shy or so the saying goes_. Raven had long since forgiven Terra for her part in what happened, but that didn't mean she'd forget the lesson it signified: that trust should not be freely given. He figured she argued that he should've been brought to Grand Mercy Hospital in Jump City, if not escorted to Gotham General.

Beastboy was the opposite. It didn't matter what slight had been inflicted upon him. He was already ready to lend a willing hand to those in need. He figured that's what being a hero meant. That being a hero didn't mean picking and choosing who they help. He was the one that managed to convince Terra to fight back against Slade, that she had a choice.

Both had valid points.

"Lift his wing", Raven said brusquely. Robin did so, and was shocked by what he saw.

"What the…"

Beneath the wing were the remnants of the robe they had seen him in earlier, now torn even more and exposing what lay underneath. The boy's skin was beginning to recede against the bones, such that his ribs were beginning to become visible. It wasn't to such a degree that it was horrifying to look at, but it was certainly noticeable. What his body told was not what his face conveyed, a young man in the prime of his life and in fit health.

Cyborg walked over to the tubes and systems and began to adjust the dials accordingly, checking the blood pressure monitor, the heart rate monitor. He wanted to make sure everything was fine, as this was a delicate matter. Their patient needed sufficient round-the-clock care.

"He's half-starved and in some sort of metabolic coma. The tests I ran say that his physiology's different from any human's and that he's been going without sufficient food for at least a month and a half, which lines up with the time of that meteor shower. If he was a human, he'd be dead by now."

"Metawhat?" Beastboy said in puzzlement.

"It means that his body stopped everything except for basic functions so that it could preserve energy." Raven said in a chastising tone.

"Friends, I fear this does not bode well for his well-being." Starfire chimed in. Robin agreed, now taking off his helmet and setting it on the bedside table.

"Did you find him with anything?"

"Nothing aside from the "clothes" he was wearing and a handful of books in his hands." Beastboy said. "They're still in the garage."

"Okay, we now have information to work off of", Robin began to say. "If his current state is tied to when the meteor shower happened, then it's likely he came from outer space. Cinderblock was seen in the vicinity of him, with Plasmus and Overload being in other segments of the city, suggesting they were all sent to look for him. And Slade led us to him to begin with."

"So what do you want us to do?" Raved inquired.

"For now", Cyborg interrupted, "the most we can do is keep him here, where he's safe and has a chance to recover."

Robin nodded. "We'll split who watches guard over him in separate daily shifts. Starfire, you'll take first watch in thirty minutes. Then Beastboy, Raven, myself, and Cyborg; then it'll start over again. If he wakes, whoever's on watch is to contact the rest of us. And Cyborg… put him in restraints."

"Seriously?" both Beastboy and Cyborg cried out in unison. Starfire shot Robin a disapproving glare, while Raven maintained that same distance she was known for.

"He didn't want anything to do with us", Raven reminded them. "He went so far as to use his powers against you Beastboy."

"That doesn't justify treating him like an animal!" the green changeling shouted at her. "You said it yourself! He was afraid at the time!"

"And how do you think he'll respond in a new environment with us, the people he was strongly trying to avoid, watching over him?" Raven said, stepping out of the shadows.

Beastboy's green skin was now turning to a distinctly reddish hue, his anger showing as his nostrils flared. "And how are handcuffs going to help?"

"Please, must we do something so horrid?" Starfire pleaded. "Surely there are other ways we could contain a possible threat…"

She trailed off, looking outside the window. The ride back was particularly unnerving for Starfire. Raven had said that he bore no injuries, but the Tamaranean superwoman was apprehensive the entire trip, worried that something worse might befall him. She held his head in her lap, studying his breaths that seemed labored, as if each inhalation was an exhausting effort. Raven had kept using her powers to make sure she hadn't missed anything from head to toe, but kept reiterating how she couldn't find anything wrong with him aside from his health issues. Thankfully, upon being lowered into the bed his breathing had stabilized.

Robin didn't budge. "We don't know the full extent of his powers, and much as I'd like to not do this I see no other choice."

Beastboy still wasn't satisfied with that response and stormed out of the room, shouting in the halls as his steps faded from hearing, prompting Raven to shake her head. Matters like this always brought out the differing viewpoints between the two, the pragmatic choices and the more humane ones. That wasn't to say neither Raven nor Beastboy were capable of agreeing to the other side's views, but more often then not they were at odds with one another. Cyborg mentioned that he was with Beastboy on the matter, but he'd still follow Robin's orders regardless as he bound their occupant's wrists to the bedposts. He then left, trying to grab the shapeshifter and calm him down by bringing up Stankball.

Starfire remained throughout all of it, and in the end simply shook her head. When Robin tried to talk to her, she snuffed him off and walked out as well. Robin hated that feeling when she would act this way. It made him feel like he was doing the wrong thing, and maybe he was. But he couldn't know that now, and he'd rather be safe then sorry. He'd rather have Starfire safe from harm and mad at him then injured after being happy at his course of action.

If hindsight proved his course wrong, then he'd gladly accept that he was wrong to jump to such a conclusion. But Slade was going to great lengths to pursue this young teen, wanting the Titans to find him but seemingly wanting him as well. There were too many unknowns at play to risk another Terra incident.

"Robin", Raven said calmly as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about them. They'll come around."

"Yeah, they will. Still, what do you make of him?"

Raven shrugged. "He has a friendly looking face, but I sense deep torment plaguing him. Beneath that, I sense fear, sorrow, anger, and apprehension, as if he's trapped in a room with no doors and crying his heart out, pounding against the walls with his fists."

"But you don't think we should trust him, despite those things."

"I don't. Not yet anyway. I can't be sure what will happen nor will I try to say we should worry about him being a threat, but I don't think we should extend our trust so readily."

Robin sighed as he sat in the chair near the door, leaning forward, his hand holding up his forehead as he stared at the floor trying to wipe away the nagging feelings of doubt. Though he knew this the path he had to take, the reasoning for it bugged him in part. The memory was just as bitter for him as it was for Raven and the rest, but even so he found the lesson it tried to convey a bitter pill to swallow on its own. Conflicting feelings were never easy for him.

This, in a way, was why he wore a mask. The mask helped to conceal his emotions, so that his friends and enemies couldn't tell what was going on in his mind. Sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes it wasn't. Here, it was a little of both. He was desperately trying to piece together everything, find answers to questions not even his mentor could answer. Why was Slade determined to pursue this young man in conjunction to his hounding of Raven? How had Slade managed to survive? What was that mark upon his forehead?

Every day these questions plagued him, and no turning of events and information in his head seemed to help them.

"Not everyone is like Terra", he finally said to her. "Terra wasn't even the problem, you know that."

"True, but not everyone is being pursued by Slade either. And we can't tell right away who is and is not trustworthy."

Robin nodded. There was obvious sense in that, sense he had seen. "Do you think his presence is a threat, though, even if he might not be himself?

Robin was now looking directly at her eyes, and Raven didn't say or do anything except for stare right back. Robin felt confident that he knew what that meant and smiled slightly at her. They had built a sort of rapport with each other, particularly since the Slade incident from a year ago brought on by a hallucinogenic pathogen in Slade's mask.

"Alright, well, let's make a note of what today is then, at least. That way we can get a better handle on things." He moved to grab the calendar lying on the desk nearby. "Today's July 9, six days after Slade showed himself on your birthday."

_And the day the world changed, though for better or worse remains to be seen._

Robin and Raven then walked out into the hall and went their separate ways, Raven towards the living room where Cyborg and Beastboy had gone… and Robin to the evidence vault in the subterranean levels of the tower. His descent down the steps had been without anything to impede him. His only company down those long stairs was the sound of his footsteps and the wind brushing up against the tower, whistling loudly.

But when he reached the final set of stairs, his path was barred. Starfire was there, her face wrought with concern, but more then that there was a hint of anger.

"Starfire… I know you don't like this, but I **have** to do it. I don't _want_ to either."

"On my world, we would not treat the sick and injured in such a way. It is beyond cruel."

Robin understood what she was trying to say, that to do something like this – even with the best of intentions in mind – didn't seem like what they would do. It seemed more… like Slade. To treat a person they just met as if he was going to destroy everything they had built was not how the Titans acted.

But that was before all this, before what happened years ago. It was easy for Robin to place his trust in people like Aqualad and the other Honorary Titans he'd met in the Master of Games' tournament, as they _had_ proven themselves trustworthy. But an unconscious person who had shown he wanted nothing to do with them and only fought Slade out of necessity and self-preservation was different. Trust was not going to be so easily earned, on both sides.

Robin admitted to himself, however, that the Titans were partially responsible for that fear. They had relentlessly pursued the rogue teen under the assumption that he was Slade, playing into the criminal's plans effortlessly. And as a result, they were not given the best reception by the young man.

"The first thing I'll do when he wakes up is explain why we took him and restrained him. If he's calm, I'll apologize and take him out of the restraints personally."

Starfire was at least partially satisfied by that answer, but she still had a look of slight anger and fear written on her face. Robin shot her a puzzled look that inquired as to what was the matter.

"It is just… I worry that we might suffer a similar fate where our lives are dependant on machines. Many perished in today's assault on the city, and Slade is only growing more dangerous each time we encounter him."

Robin had the same fears, if truth be told. A hero's job was perilous work, with death closer to them then it was to the rest of society. It was a heavy burden to bear, the weight of sacrificing your life for the lives of society. These days it was almost as if the Grim Reaper was intending to collect on some bounty contracted on them.

"That won't happen. We have each other; we have friends throughout the world; we'll do whatever we have to so that we're safe and the city remains safe."

Starfire moved in to embrace him, her arms wrapping around him tightly such that he couldn't breathe easily. To Starfire, her strength was restrained, but not so to Robin. Despite that, he didn't mind. When she let go, he asked her what she wanted to do.

"Might we go up to the upper levels for a little while before I must stand watch? I enjoy the view of the ocean from the edge of the Tower."

Robin decided that the view might be a good thing for him too. There was something calming about just taking in the scenery, allowing the group to be able to push back all the thoughts and worries that plagued them, even if only for a little while.

"Yeah, let's go."

**O~O~O**

"God, I don't believe him!" Beastboy snapped as he opened the refrigerator door with a hard pull, taking from within a tofu patty for himself and lunchmeat for Cyborg.

As he turned the stove to warm up, Cyborg was sitting on the other side of the kitchen making his famous triple-decker sub, with three layers of three different types of meat, a large dose of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, spinach leaves, three types of cheese, honey mustard, and chipotle sauce all on freshly baked Italian bread.

Truth be told, Beastboy didn't have much of an appetite right now. Any time he was angry, his desire to eat seemed to wane. He didn't even really know why he was cooking the burger right now, because he probably wouldn't even eat all of it in his state of mind.

"BB, you know you can't change his mind on this. I don't like it either. Hell, none of us do. It's just that Raven and Robin feel that they have to do this."

The olive oil in the frying pan was now beginning to sizzle, to which the vegan tossed in a healthy assortment of onions and mushrooms, waiting for them to reach that certain level where they lost their crunch.

"That's just it … do we really have to do this? We don't know a thing about him, and we're not really making ourselves look any better to him after what happened in the valley."

"That's the point." Cyborg said as he took a healthy bite of his sandwich. "We don't know a thing about him. He could be Slade's agent, for all we know."

"Slade already knows our weaknesses, remember?" Beastboy was trying hard to avoid bringing up the reason for just how Slade knew those weaknesses. The memory of Terra was one he didn't want to focus on, insofar as the bad aspects were concerned. He wanted to remember her for the good she had.

"Precisely. With that knowledge, Robin has to be extra careful. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but being a leader ain't all it's cracked up to be. You've got to make decisions that impact everyone around you without knowing if they're the right calls or not, and if something goes wrong the guilt's primarily on you. Why do you think he hounds Slade day and night?"

He hadn't considered that. By now, the onions and mushrooms were ready to be mixed with the tofu burgers and molded together. He then finished up by coating them in breadcrumbs before placing them back in the fridge. It seems he elected to wait a half hour before finishing the cooking process.

"Don't get me wrong, BB, I still think he's wrong here. But that's just what you and I think. There are always two sides to these types of things. Reasons for why we shouldn't do it are also reasons for why we should do it."

Cyborg had now eaten half of his sandwich, but hadn't slowed up one bit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raven walking towards them, book in hand. She seemed unconcerned with everything around her, as usual. She walked over to the kitchen and began to make some herbal tea, and though she was silent Beastboy had thought of something to ask.

"Raven, couldn't you just… go into his mind and help him understand what's going on?"

She shook her head, not in ridicule but rather as a means of answering. "Not a good idea. Based on his powers, I'd guess they're tied to his emotional state much like mine. If I were to go wandering about in his mind, the results could be disastrous for one or both of us, as our state of mind could become incredibly volatile."

"There you have it then BB. Restraints are the only thing we can do. I'll have to come up with a suppressor for his powers, something to take the clarity out of him so that he can't focus when he wakes. That should help a little bit. Even if he's upset, he won't be able to do anything about it."

Cyborg walked over with the remainder of his sandwich and flipped on the TV, stopping to watch an episode of some criminal investigative show, his feet propped up on the table. Beastboy still wasn't happy, even if he understood where Robin was coming from now.

"I guess… I can put it off for now."

"Good idea. Besides, the kid's a distant concern. Slade's primary focus is on you, Raven."

She was sitting far away from the rest of them, deeply focused in the story she had read earlier in the week. She gave no answer, and Beastboy was unsure if that had to do with her not wanting to respond or her not having heard in the first place. So he walked over to her and knocked her lightly on the head as if she were a door.

"Anyone home? Come on Raven, you have to know _something_ about all this."

She didn't move to answer, or move at all for that matter. She just sat there, reading her book, as if the changeling were bothering someone else. Cyborg supposed that she was doing the same thing she had done in the car after the battle with Plasmus, pretending that there wasn't a problem in the first place that needed sharing. That how she was acting was par for the course for her.

He didn't mind too much. It seemed natural that a week after the incident, she'd take to being by herself more then usual. It was unnerving for them all, but for her the most because it held an unfortunate significance. He just hoped that sometime soon she'd tell someone in the group what the problem was. The longer this went on without any concrete information, the worse it got.

"B, she wants to be left alone man. Let her read."

As Cyborg moved to change the channel, a news bulletin appeared on the screen. They were at the site of the battle in the business district where Overload had done the brunt of his assault. Police had secured the scene, but debris was scattered everywhere, along with bloodstains. Senior correspondent Diane Wulster was on the scene, talking about what had happened.

"Earlier today, the electronic behemoth Overload caused havoc in this section of the city, killing at least a dozen people before the Titans managed to arrive on the scene, with many more injured. Elsewhere, Cinderblock and Plasmus brought chaos to the construction district and on Main Street, respectively, with Main Street suffering four casualties and six wounded. Opinions among the denizens are divided as to whether the Titans should be praised for their efforts or criticized."

"You're damn right I'm mad!" a man shouted into the screen, a prerecorded interview of events now airing. He was an elderly white man in very casual clothes, either retired or just enjoying a day off that went horribly wrong. "My brother was in the park and now the doctors are saying he might not make it!"

"Do you blame the Titans?"

"Yes! Had they gotten here sooner, my brother might be fine!"

The screen then briefly cut back to the female reporter as she stood in front of what seemed to be a conference. Reporters from all the other news stations and newspapers had gathered around, and Raven peered up to see the police commissioner of Jump City approaching the podium.

"At this time, we cannot say for certain who was pulling the strings behind this attack." The Titans knew that he was just putting on a show, as he did have knowledge of who was doing it but didn't want the city to worry. "But I strongly urge the people to not cast any blame towards the Titans for this assault, but rather the actual perpetrator. Had the Titans not intervened, casualties would be catastrophically higher."

Cyborg was now the one whose fury was showing. He threw the remote down against the table in force as he began to walk out of the room. He would've made it too, had Beastboy not stopped him. Cyborg hated the scornful looks society would give him. None of the other Titans could say they understood it, at least not in the sense that they could relate.

They understood how he felt, but only on a basic level. They had never _lived_ it. Robin was an otherwise normal kid, Raven grew up with people that loved her, Starfire grew up on an alien world, and Beastboy always had people that cared for him, be they his parents or the Doom Patrol. Cyborg's past was… trickier. Where he was going to go, he didn't know. But Beastboy wasn't about to let him waltz out in this state, because then everyone might regret it.

"Cy, don't let what they say get to you. They're just upset, worried about their loved ones."

"Doesn't make it right. We keep the city safe, and while I'm not looking for a pat on the back every time I'd at least like it if people wouldn't start hating us for our failure to be perfect guardians. We're not gods."

"To them we might as well be." Raven added, shutting her book as she took a sip of tea and pointed to the television. "To them we could've stopped this."

In the background, images were flaring of the grisly devastation left after the Titans had left. Entire patches of concrete were torn from the roads, cars left in fiery mangled wrecks all along the areas. Pictures of the injured and the dead were prevalent, blood coalescing into pools that refused to cease their pileup. Some bodies had burn marks from Overload's charges, others crushed limbs from failing to dodge incoming wreckage.

Cyborg's mouth twisted in disgust as he looked at the changing images displayed on the large screen. "We should never have let Slade get away."

"I agree", Beastboy added, having his own desire for revenge against the man. "I swear, the next time I see him I'll finish what Terra started."

And for a brief moment, Cyborg saw in his lean friend's eyes a passion made of fire, a burning hatred for the man. He wasn't trying to seem comical, he was being serious. Beastboy would do whatever he had to so that Slade would die, and for a moment Cyborg feared the extent he might go in trying to achieve that.

Slade's return had brought out the worst in the Titans.

And that was only the beginning.

**O~O~O**

The air was lingering in his mouth. He could feel the dust swelling up as he moved about, looking for new books to read. Well, attempt to read, as he couldn't really understand the language. Even so, he wanted to learn. His language wasn't understood on this planet, and that posed a problem. But it was not an easy process.

In the distance, he heard fighting. Looking over, he saw that it was the same green boy he'd seen in the valley fighting a gargantuan made of stone. He didn't pay it much heed. So long as he kept to the shadows, he could sneak out sight unseen.

Moving towards another section of the library, the earth shook and a piece of concrete was hurled in his direction, taking him square in the chest before he could react. He fell on his back and began to cough violently, blood spewing up from his lungs, and it was all he could do to keep himself conscious.

It was happening again, much to his despair. A normal occurrence, not having anything to do with a sickness he was suffering from, but rather the result of going too long without food. His body was now exhausting too much energy for him to remain awake for much longer, and he prayed that he could just hold on long enough to get back home.

It didn't work. Before he knew it, he had collapsed in the dirt, the last images being the books clutched in his hand and the sight of the grey stone behemoth falling to the ground. He saw a massive beast with three horns on its head shift forms into the changeling from earlier, and for a moment he thought he wouldn't be noticed, that the master of animal forms wouldn't come near him.

He was wrong.

The last thing he could remember was hearing a voice, young and spirited, telling him to hold on and that he'd be okay. He tried to say that he should be left alone, but the words wouldn't come out. It wouldn't have mattered anyway if he could.

All the light in the world seemed to fade from view, a vast gray color seeping in, with everything around him being but distant shades, a dream in another realm, before total blackness overcame that. All the sounds in the world couldn't be heard, and he resigned himself to this horrific condition, one he'd faced too many times before.

That was then. Now, he was in a haze, wandering around in a miasma. Wraiths surrounded him in a strange warped form of the city, the sky hidden by dark clouds. He was moving throughout what seemed to be the park by the pizzeria, a scenic place he enjoyed on starry nights. Now, there were no stars, no moon, and no natural sky to take in. The trees seemed to be more claws reaching up out of the ground, with no leaves on their limbs.

As he walked throughout the park, the apparitions stopped to stare at him, and the words he heard were those of scorn and condemnation in his own language. Suspicion filled their eyes. They had no substance, no form, being simply smoke in the shapes of men and women. It wasn't until time edged on that they began to take a familiar form, and he realized that though he was in a locale native to Earth the denizens were not the residents of the city.

And yet, for some reason one person was staring at him. She walked up towards him, and he saw caring in her eyes. She took his head into her hands and kissed him on the mouth for a long time in a tender fashion. It was strange for this to happen, but he didn't fight back. Whether it was because he couldn't or chose not to he couldn't say.

But one thing he did know was that he was afraid. Deathly afraid.


	4. Chapter 4: Never Enough Time

**Foreword: **I have a request to make. If anyone reading this is a capable artist, could you draw the painting I describe in the story and then message me? It holds great significance for this story and would actually be a better way to encapsulate the story then just Slade standing ominously over you as you read =P.

Two wings, mind you. While our newblood has six, the painting does not have that many.

**Disclaimer I do not own Teen Titans. Or Dragonball Z. And I honestly did not intend (or even notice) for that to appear in the dialogue. But when I saw it, I laughed**.

Chapter 4: Never Enough Time

_We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn't have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness. – Petra Nemcova_

**July 15**

**Slade's Haunt, Jump City, California**

**11:15 P.M.**

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me this evening."

Slade was dressed in a black suit, jacket laid atop a fine silk shirt with an ebony tie. His pants were ironed pristinely, such that no wrinkles could be seen, and he wore black gloves to conceal his boney hands. The only deviation from all the black he was wearing was his favored mask, half orange and cast aglow in the fire's light. His mansion, once dilapidated and left to ruin, had been quickly brought to a tolerable condition, though it was by no means perfectly restored. The allocated funds had brought in a plethora of people committed to the task, though it'd still be another two weeks before his lovely home was back to normal.

Still, it was an improvement, particularly as he could now entertain guests as he was doing today. A long oaken table, elegantly hand-carved and dating from the 13th century, was now playing host to a menagerie of people.

Ra's al Ghul was seated directly to Slade's right side, a position of honor due to Slade holding the man in high esteem. Seated to his left was Lex Luthor, and throughout the room other nemeses of the Titans and the Justice League could be seen. Brother Blood, Blackfire, Two-Face, the H.I.V.E Headmistress, Doctor Light, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Trident, and others were in attendance. Villains of major import in opposing the members of both groups were in attendance, as Slade saw fit to only invite the best.

"I must say, Slade, it is truly a wondrous sight to see that rumors of your demise were greatly exaggerated." Ra's said with a smirk. He was dressed in expensive attire, an emerald suit wrought from the finest silks with a black cape draped on the back of his chair. His hair had just a tinge of grey that made him look distinguished, regal even. The man was certainly charming to look at, Slade thought, though beneath all that charm was a calculating persona.

"Yes", Lex spoke up. "I don't think I'd attend a dinner held by someone who was killed by a _kid._" Lex was the opposite of Ra's in appearance and demeanor. His suit was similarly expensive, but it only accentuated the maliciousness within his character, all grey. And in reality that was fitting, since this was not a gathering of Cub Scout leaders.

Slade ignored the insult. He could just as easily show them who he was underneath, but there was no need to reveal such… sensitive information to these people. His position was precarious already, and he wanted their support. He didn't _need_ it, if he was being perfectly honest, but that didn't mean they couldn't be useful assets. Pouring a glass of red wine, he began to casually swirl it around in the glass, as if it were but a trophy that shouldn't be disturbed too heavily, as he mulled on what to say next.

"The Teen Titans think too much of themselves." Brother Blood said. Blood was wearing a dark indigo cloak emblazoned with the symbol of the H.I.V.E, for all the good it did him. Beneath it, the parts of his body he'd exchanged for cybernetics were glowing. _Stealth is lost on this one now. And his ego's far too large for his own good. Perhaps inviting him here was a bad idea_.

"They're more formidable then you give them credit for…," Ra's said as he began to cut into a piece of steak. "Or did your experience with them leave your mind along with half of your brain? As I recall they foiled your plans… not once, not twice, but _three_ times in rapid succession."

"Now see here! I will not be insulted by the likes of you!"

"I'm quaking in fear, Blood." Ra's was now sipping his glass of wine nonchalantly, and his expression seemed to be approving of the taste. Truly, his calm demeanor at the most acerbic of moments could put most anyone in an uncomfortable position.

Blood seemed rattled by the insolence Ra's was providing, and stood upright, knocking his chair clear away from the table. The other villains assembled did nothing, either out of curiosity, apathy, or cowardice… though the latter probably wasn't in play for anyone Slade mused. The man jumped on top of the table and pointed directly at the Demon's Head.

Suddenly, a cannon formed from the metal prosthetic limb, similar in nature to that of the Titans' chief engineer Cyborg in every way save for its coloration. Energy began to pulsate at the opening, but Ra's was not showing any signs of fear. All the man did was look up directly at his would-be assailant's face and smirk casually.

"Really, Blood, is this the best you can do? And black and red cybernetics? I realize we're criminals, but you're not even attempting to hide your nature. At least when we wear black, class is our reason, not to showcase our villainy."

"I'd like to hear one reason why I shouldn't blast that damnable grin clean off of your face."

"Because", Ra's began, "it'd be both in poor form for our host's event and… well… there's a gun pointed at your head right now."

"Enough!" Slade shouted, pounding his fist on the table. "I called you all here to work together, not help the Titans with infighting!"

Reluctantly, Blood lowered his cannon and seated himself once more. His paranoia and his anger had only increased lately, since his defeat at the hands of the Titans. He was no less formidable, but Ra's had just shown that he was easily manipulated by those flaws.

Blackfire began to ravenously devour the meal in front of her, with not a care in the world for manners. She wasn't really paying attention, Slade noted. No matter. Her feud with her sister was clear enough, and she would follow his instructions. When she was done, she sat back and let out a large belch that echoed throughout the room.

"How very ladylike." said the H.I.V.E Headmistress. She hadn't even touched her meal. Rather, she had pushed the plate away. Apparently steak was too much for her.

Blackfire's deep violet eyes shot up as she took a toothpick to her mouth, and Slade noted her eyes were like amethysts. She stared right at Slade and smiled slightly, flecked with a hint of menace, devotion, and anger.

"I for one can't wait to see my dear sister once more. I've so missed her."

"I'll bet." Slade said, and beneath his mask he was smiling.

"_I'll_ bite." Lex remarked snidely. "Why in God's name are we all assembled here?"

"A simple thing. When I give the word, we will take down the Teen Titans and the Justice League. Each of you has strengths necessary for such a thing."

"Really, that's a simple thing?" Doctor Light said with a curiously dark level of mockery behind his voice.

"If you work together and none of you act like a bunch of dense buffoons with superiority complexes, certainly."

"Perfection does not listen to the orders of someone like you!" Trident said, slamming the weapon he named himself after down on the floor. Slade mused that perhaps Trident wasn't the best pick for him in terms of oceanic endeavors, given how he never could get over himself. That was the Atlantean's downfall, as it turned out. But Slade had to make the most of this… rabble.

Before Slade could respond, a new voice broke out from the distance.

"Time waits for no man", the voice cried out. "But history… history allows us success. You would be fools to follow your own instincts, ignoring your own tragedies in the past."

"Who's there?" Lex said, arming a blaster pistol to be safe.

The figure stepped out from the shadows, clad in glistening golden armor. His face bore a distinct mustache and goatee. Lex glared at him, ready to fire, while Ra's stared at him with a curious fascination. Blackfire seemed unimpressed and didn't even bother to stifle a yawn. Blood began scanning him with his own technology and came to a conclusion.

"You hail from the future."

"Correct. I am Warp, and the books I read told me of this meeting. Particularly one about your host."

The man took a seat opposite from Slade, at the far end of the table.

"Ah, I was expecting something like this." Slade said evenly. "I'd heard the Titans went up against a time-traveling enemy some years ago. Nice to see there was some truth to that. Otherwise that last invitation I sent out would've gone to waste."

"Very well", Ra's said. "This meeting has… piqued my curiosity. Just how do you propose to take down the Titans and Justice League?"

The League of Shadows was critical to Slade's plan, in more ways then just the one he was informing them of. A secret society of elite assassins – and occasionally eco-terrorists in Ra's goal for a world without corruption – would be handy. Slade knew the value of such killers. How could he not? He had spent most of his life performing contract hits, some easy while others required a level of finesse.

Lex sat there, similarly puzzled by why he was necessary. But Slade suspected the man had an inkling of why he was called there. Out of everyone Superman had faced, Lex knew him the best. They went back many years, as friends and enemies. If Lex was as smart as Slade thought he was, he'd use that to his advantage in dealing with the Man of Steel.

Not to mention, of course, LexCorp had the latest in military weaponry. That was always useful. Slade's robots had begun to be… less then adequate when dealing with the Titans. Oh, they could _delay_ the group well enough, but their tactics were easily pinpointed and thus they were little more then a hindrance in large numbers.

Doctor Light was useful for his intellect in the field of physics, Blackfire for her endurance, powers, and manipulation, the H.I.V.E Headmistress for her capability of providing fodder to distract the Titans in time, the man formerly known as Harvey Dent for his legal maneuvering, and Blood… perhaps for all of his faults for being easily recognizable, his psychic abilities regarding the mind were what really garnered Slade's interest.

_Yes, all in all I suppose this group will suffice_.

"You'll find under each of your seats a gift. Don't open it here, though. When the end of next June comes, open it and you'll know what to do with it. You'll swiftly see just why I gave it to you within the coming days, and you should know what to do."

"And then we strike?" Two-Face asked.

"Not exactly. You won't strike until long after this event."

Lex let out a grunt of annoyance. "Do you even have a plan, or are we just going to do this without a damn clue?"

"You'll all find out what our dear host has in mind." Warp said with a grin. Truly, it was tough for Slade to keep this a secret. Trigon had lectured him on the follies of speaking aloud of how "he'd show the Lord of All Evil how little he knew of Slade" and it resulted in the man working hard to keep himself appearing as in desperate need of Trigon's aid. That one outburst when Wintergreen had helped him nearly cost him everything.

Thankfully, Trigon couldn't read minds or see what was not visible, and Slade was not one to repeat his past mistakes. So for now, things were kept close to the vest.

"Right, future boy over here knows more then we do." The young Luthor seemed to be uncomfortable with this man's sudden appearance. Perhaps he knew that the greatest threat was someone who had history on his side, knowledge of everything that would ever be done.

"Patience, everyone. We can either do this immediately or appropriately. But not both." Slade said as he stood up from the table and motioned for everyone to leave. "Our meeting is over. If you wish to stick around in my mansion for a time and feast, dismal as it is currently, feel free. Otherwise, you should return immediately to where you reside. I shall contact each of you within the year, some sooner then others, with steps towards our goal."

Most of the guests did indeed leave. Only a few elected to stay. Ra's al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Warp, and the H.I.V.E Headmistress sat there, either puzzled or intrigued. Slade expected as much. Wintergreen now came out, dressed in fine serving attire, and proceeded to remove each of the dishes they had dined upon and escort them to the kitchen. When that was done, a delicious looking dessert cart was brought out.

"So, Lex, I'd like to make a business deal with your company later in the week."

A menacing smile crossed the man's face as he heard the prospect of acquiring money. Relaxing in his chair, he took a strawberry; plump as could be, from the cart and bit into it, the juice trickling down his face.

"What kind of deal?" he asked as he dabbed at the fluids with a napkin.

"Weapons, A.I., equipment that best suits an army of robots, the works."

"The works?"

Slade didn't skip a beat echoing his last words. "The works."

"That'll be an expensive venture."

Slade pulled out a check from his pocket and slid it across the table with ease, as if he didn't mind the idea of how costly everything would be. Lex picked it up and stared at it, first with disbelief and then with smug satisfaction. Finishing off the strawberry, a mild chuckle escaped his lips.

"I trust that will be enough?"

"More then enough. LexCorp is at your disposal."

_Good. That's one aspect taken care of._

"As for you two", Slade began as he gestured to Batman's mentor and the queen of the hive, "your gift is something you'll want to share. Ra's, I suggest you pick your best men and have them around you at all times, while you my lady should harness its energy for the H.I.V.E."

The two of them nodded in curt acknowledgement. They didn't quite understand the need for secrecy, he could see, but then they were hardly in Slade's position. Ra's took a decadent triple layer chocolate cake for herself, while the headmistress decided to forego such confections. She was fine with a tall glass of wine to drown her appetite.

"Is it a weapon of some sort?" Ra's probed as he gingerly cut away at the cake.

"Think of it as more of… an insurance policy."

"Permit me another question. Is it necessary to kill the Batman?" He took a small bite of the cake and found it luxuriously sweet to the tongue, mixed to the point of being almost perfect.

"You, of all people, should have no problem with killing people for an end goal."

"Perhaps", he said, stroking his sideburns. "But… his like will not be seen again if he leaves this world. To waste a gift as valuable as he is would be… unwise."

"You mean to convert him to your path."

It was obvious, honestly. Ra's was a man who wanted to see the world in perfect harmony with itself and would go about it by enacting ecological crimes against the world in a bid to purge the greater portion of society. The man viewed the world as corrupt and decadent, existing only to serve its own jaded appetites, never satiated as it destroyed all that was good and pure in the world. Gluttony their main vice, society would destroy itself out of stubborn obstinacy before realizing the folly of its actions and working to rectify them.

So the League of Shadows formed long ago as they caught wind of this progression into obliteration, and so aimed to preserve what made the world beautiful, whatever the cost. The man had been eyeing Batman for years before making himself known, and it was all in the hope that Batman's war on crime would grant him a sympathetic viewpoint to Ra's goals. Slade supposed he couldn't begrudge the old man for wanting to make Batman his heir, as Slade wanted Robin to be his apprentice.

"Very well", he continued. "If Batman can change sides, then there won't be a need to kill him. If he refuses…"

"Then I shall be regretfully content."

"And what of me? I abhor having to work with that simpleminded buffoon that took over my academy." Beneath her breath she groaned that hiring the man was the worst mistake she'd ever made.

"Leave Blood to me. I'll… convince him to relinquish control of the Academy back to you."

She seemed pleasantly surprised by that, though her surprise quickly turned to anger as she remembered the sad fate that befell the Academy. The H.I.V.E was no more, destroyed thanks to the Titans. Its students, scattered to the four winds, were now without a means of honing their powers.

Still… it could be rebuilt. A year was more then sufficient.

"I shall begin finding a suitable location immediately, far from the eyes of the Titans."

"See to it that you also rebuild the Academy discreetly, in that what you order for the effort mustn't be noticed by _anyone_." Slade added. "Asking for parts to build an academy designed for metahumans will no doubt draw attention, so you may need to go a longer route."

And Slade finally turned his attention to his mysterious guest. He was hesitant about the idea of inviting this man, mainly because he knew absolutely nothing about him. But the obvious benefits, that of knowledge of what mistakes are made, were fruitful. But that also presented the time-worn dilemma of what happens to the future if the past is altered?

Then again, it's not like anyone had actually tested it out. They were only theories on the notion of time-travel. It was restricted to the realm of movies in being "tested", and movies had no merit to them at all other then entertainment value. Time travel was not at all understood, and probably never would be. It seemed that the farther they progressed in trying to comprehend its nature, the farther they **regressed**.

"Would you leave me to chat in private with…? Warp, was it?"

The man nodded, and politely the rest of the people from this gathering of villains stood up and proceeded to walk to the foyer where Slade had first greeted them.

"Lovely what you've done with the place." Warp said as he took in everything around him.

Slade wasn't sure if that was a genuine compliment or an insult, but he took it for the former. The place was better looking, that much was true. Paintings now adorned the walls that were left bare, a new coat of paint and plaster having repaired them. Slade's favorite painting was an obscure work little known. It depicted one of God's angels, with one side showing his pure white wings and the other showing draconic wings.

The draconic side had him covering his face, as if ashamed of some crime he'd committed, a ruined landscape cast afire behind him. The angelic one had a smile as it took in its surroundings, the gates of Heaven in the background. Slade admired it for its honesty in depicting the fallibility of us all, the potential to do acts of good and evil.

Warp didn't seem to like the silence, so he continued speaking as he approached the painting in question. "Who made this piece?"

"My daughter, Rose, painted it. I found it at a local art gallery one day. No one else seemed to like it, if they even noticed it. I don't know when she made it, but I knew I had to have it then and there." His voice changed from one of mild sadness to one of enormous pride. "The price I paid was nothing compared to how much it should've sold for. I had it moved from a villa I never used that much when I came back here a week ago."

"She has talent."

Slade didn't look as if he wanted to continue on the topic of his family for any longer, so he quickly changed the subject. "Where do my plans lead? I mean for the ones that _aren't_ related to today's gift I doled out."

Warp shook his head, a face of uncertainty now recognizable on him. "History does not say. What books we have on the matter are scarce in their talks of it, most having been lost in some sort of fire thirty years ago. Your own journal was among them, sad to say, and it was only from a small scrap that survived that I knew what to do. Five years after that incident, all the data files were destroyed, either corrupted or deleted. The police believed the two were linked, but could never prove such suspicions."

"Already I regret inviting you. What use is a person who can't tell me of my own plan's shortcomings?"

Warp was mildly insulted, but felt amused as well. "I assure you, there are other benefits to having me here."

"Such as?"

"The identities of the Justice League and the Teen Titans."

Slade could hardly contain his excitement at the prospect of knowing their identities, and in the interests of decorum simply let out a hearty laugh. The only ones he'd had much knowledge of were Batman's and Robin's. Other then that, he had nothing to go on. But now, with this knowledge, he could use it to his advantage.

_Yes, this group will definitely work._

**O~O~O**

**July 16**

**Titans' Tower, Jump City, California.**

**1:48 P.M**

The silence was welcome for Raven.

It was her second time on guard duty, and she enjoyed it. The only sound she had to deal with was the beeping of the medical equipment monitoring the angelic figure – though granting him that epithet seemed rather erroneous, since while he looked the part he did not cast such a vibe - which she could easily ignore. The first day she had brought the story of Malchior and Rorek to read, but she hadn't gotten very far before Robin came in from a daily patrol and asked her to do some research on the boy's powers. She did not see anything wrong with such a request and Robin volunteered to watch over him until she came back from her room, since he knew that she didn't really want anyone going into her room unless she was both there and permissive of such a thing.

Today, she brought the book on superpowers with her. That was what she managed to do here. Reading came easily, as she didn't have to contend with Beastboy's obnoxiousness, Cyborg's mechanical clanking with the T-Car, Starfire's boisterous personality, or anything else that drowned out her thoughts in the Tower. Which isn't to say she hated those things; it's just that they weren't conducive to what she wanted to do here and now.

Starfire, being the first to finish her shift, had told the group of how they should all talk to him. She said she had heard that people in the long sleep – as she called a coma – would respond better if people talked to them. They agreed that it was worth doing, though Robin felt that they shouldn't be too personal, that it should just be minor stuff they talked about – even if the chances of him _remembering_ these things was miniscule. She then told the group that she had told him of Tamaran in its entire splendor. Of the vast city-state that had a beautiful view of the sky at night, with the stars coalescing into a grand tapestry. Of the majestic gardens the city bore in the absence of lush pastures and forests outside, and how native wildlife enjoyed such things.

Beastboy had regaled him with the rules of Stankball on his shift, how it was tied to a points system based on a multitude of factors. How points were doled out by the nature of how you hit an opponent. If you took them by surprise, you earned bonus points. If you struck them in the face, that was worth thirty more points. A simple hit in itself was worth ten points. Then he told him of the lightning round, which necessitated a referee. A time limit was imposed, and you had to hit the enemy with the pungent orb five times with sufficient force. A light tapping wouldn't count. Even then, however, a referee was needed for other rules. Once that was done, he began telling him of his greatest victories against Cyborg, and how he was eager to get Raven to join in the sport in the future.

Cyborg tended to talk to him about his health, wondering why he'd subject himself to such things. By the sound of how he told the group what he had talked about, it was as if he'd seen something similar before, where a person let themselves go without food for so long that they were just a shell of their former selves. He'd also tend to check on his vital signs, making sure heart rate, blood pressure, and everything else was fine. What he was happy to see, though, was that the specialized nutritional meal for starvation patients was having a rapid effect on restoring the boy's body. S.T.A.R labs had guaranteed that within a month, humans could be seen to have improvements.

Unfortunately, it was still in its testing phases which bugged Cyborg about using it, and even then it was astronomically expensive to create, so it'd be years before it could be employed in third-world countries, possibly decades. But it was good to see the boy looking more fit and healthy, his body now back to its peak condition more or less.

Robin didn't really say much to him, as was expected. He kept things close to the vest, so no one expected him to divulge much of anything to him. What he had said was that he was in slight admiration of his powers and how he'd used them against Slade. But immediately… his admiration turned to questioning, repeating those same questions he'd been plagued by. He wanted to know just why he was out in that valley, why Slade was hounding him, how he defeated Slade so easily, and if he knew anything about why Raven was being hounded by him too. None of the group knew if he had gotten any further in the search for answers, as Robin hadn't talked about it. Once his shift was over, he'd head down to the evidence room, like he had always done.

Raven was the only one who _hadn't_ said anything to him at all. She didn't like trusting anything about her to a stranger, and small talk wasn't really her thing with people she didn't know. The most she would do was to stare at him for a moment or two, shake her head, and think again how this seemed wildly reminiscent of Terra. She may not have been in a state like he was, but there were still some disturbing similarities. So she passed the time by reading on the different types of kinetics out in the world.

His powers were mostly centered on the elements, much as she could see. He was a pyrokineticist, a cryokineticist, an electrokineticist, a geokineticist, an aerokineticist, and a hydrokineticist. Technically, the last two would probably fall under the jurisdiction of the third and second, respectively, but there had been much debate in the world as to whether they should be separate classifications or not.

She had highlighted a particular passage in the book that was important, and underlined parts within.

"Kineticists are metahumans with an extraordinary capability to cause destruction. While Superman's abilities deal with his biological state – and are just as capable of chaos – a kineticist's powers are tied to his **emotional** state. Superman's powers do not function if he's in the vicinity of Kryptonite, a hazardous carcinogenic material to humans and one that renders the famed superhero to experience bouts of extreme fatigue and illness, rendering him unable to perform his powers due to how taxing it is on his body.

Kineticists, on the other hand, are blessed or cursed – depending on who you ask - with tremendous power. As it is tied to how their **emotional** state is, it can fluctuate at any given time. **There is no such thing as mastery** over the types of kinetic abilities one may possess, **only control**, and this takes **years to achieve**. Sadly, these powers tend to manifest from a young age where the ones who hold these abilities are at an incredibly volatile state. They're more prone to outbursts of sadness or anger, which can cause havoc in their vicinity.

Some are killed as a result due to fear, believed to occur when the child is incapable of displaying their powers (willingly or not) such as when sleeping. Others are scared by what their powers can do, if not what they have done in the manifesting. Others learn to control it and potentially use it for good. Others still use it for their own gains, turning to a life of crime. Physical laws are not beholden to their powers, and so the few ones that turn to villainy liken themselves to gods.

The different subtypes of known kineticists are as follows: **Geokineticists** (capable of manipulating and controlling the earth), **Cryokineticists** (capable of controlling ice and low temperature extremes), **Pyrokineticists** (capable of controlling fire, oxidation, and high temperature extremes), **Electrokineticists** (capable of controlling lightning and other energies), **Hydrokineticists** (capable of controlling and generating water), **Aerokineticists** (capable of controlling gases, the air, and wind), Telekineticists (capable of moving objects with their mind), and Psychokinetics (capable of controlling the molecules of objects).

But these are only what are _known_. There are assuredly dozens more that we **haven't** encountered. There is some overlap between these groups in what they are capable of, **but it is rare – unheard of even – for anyone to have multiple abilities**. Which is not to say it is _impossible_ for it to happen, only that it has never been _reported and recorded. _

After all, it was once deemed impossible for man to do many things, yet these metahumans are capable of such feats."

Scrawled in the margin was the word Terra, pointing to the word geokineticist. Under it was written "newcomer", talking about the one she was standing guard over, and pointing to the various types of elemental kinetic powers.

And it was the last line she'd highlighted that troubled her the most. If it was unheard of, why in Azarath's name did she have a bad feeling about all of this? Why did this boy have such powers? And how could he have gained control over all of them, when it took her years to achieve even a modest amount of control over her telekinetic powers?

She was not happy about this at all.

Suddenly, the mild beeping of the medical equipment turned sudden and fast, and she was torn away from the soft pages of the book to see that the boy was starting to wake. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he took note that he was not in the place he had last found himself in, but in a stranger's home. His heart rate was accelerating rapidly as he tried to get free, only to notice he was handcuffed to the bedposts.

He fought against the restraints he had been placed in, making loud grunts as he struggled to breathe against the feeding tube that was about to choke him.

Raven immediately removed it and contained him as best she could, but no sooner had she removed it did her hold over him break and she was sent stumbling across the room after he head butted her on accident, and he was left trying to wrest himself free, cursing in his alien language. To her credit, Raven did not grow angry even as blood began to drip down from her nose. She casually wiped it away with a bit of cloth.

"Tag da eig! Tag da gse satt eig eb sara!" he shouted as he glared at Raven. Raven didn't seem the least bit concerned as she flipped open her communicator. With a fizzle of static on the screen, she waited for Robin to appear.

Soon enough, he did. He was in the lounge of Titans' Tower, resting on the couch, the TV blaring in the background and slowly coming down to a dull moan. Starfire was seated next to him, peering over his shoulder at the communicator.

"Robin", she said. "He's awake."

"Good. I'll gather the team and we'll meet you down there. See that he doesn't escape."

Though she said he wouldn't, soon enough he broke out of his restraints and slammed them against the wall in frustration. As they clanked to the floor, his white wings that once wrapped around him like an elegant blanket now unfurled, and they were at least as long as he was tall. For a moment she feared he would break out of the window. But then she remembered Cyborg had administered a suppressor each day, a little concoction that was just potent enough to keep him in a foggy state of mind in terms of using his powers.

Regal the wings looked as they stretched, only for him to see that he was left without clothes and quickly wrap them around his body once more; out of shame Raven thought, though perhaps it was due to anger. She couldn't say, but she did see a lot. His chest, once skin tight against the bones, was now healthy as an aurochs and broad. His arms were muscular, at least more so then Beastboy's or Robin's. Cyborg had him beat in terms of sheer size, but he would not have been anyone to be taken lightly by normal people, were he at all normal as well.

Thankfully, she did not get a chance to look at his manhood, due to how quickly he covered himself. That would have been embarrassing for both of them, and their introductions were already off to a rocky enough start. They didn't need _that_ added onto it; with the awkwardness of it all and him blushing at the fact he'd borne it all in front of her.

"You need to calm down." she said coldly, as if he were but a child throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a store.

"Nev'g ryaum ge da! Nev'g peda vauh da!"

Sinking to his knees, he began to cry. Tears slowly eked their way out of his eyes, confusing Raven. What did he have to be upset about? His health was back and he was safe.

"Wsq peitnvg qei yaeyta taufa da uteva?" He said in sadness, as he looked up from the floor and out the window, as if he tried to imagine himself free on the other side. This room was hardly a prison, yet he was acting as if the Titans were the bad guys.

In the distance, she heard an elevator ding and the doors open. The footsteps echoed throughout the hall as the group made their way down, and faint discussion could be heard about what he'd be like. Beastboy was hoping that he'd be a vegan or at least a vegetarian, given the wings and everything, and was bringing him a plate of tofu burgers. Cyborg jested that there wouldn't be any superhero on earth that'd eat "that tofu garbage" aside from Beastboy. Starfire was in joyous celebration, happy that his health was back, though Robin cautioned her not to be too excited as they didn't know what he was like.

And then the door slid open, and the rest of them poured in like water down a river, steady in their pace. Starfire flew in with a smile as large as a Cheshire cat's, one that quickly vanished upon seeing the young man distressed and crying. She hurriedly pulled him to his feet and hugged the young man fervently hoping to console him despite the fact she did not know why he was upset, though he was quick to fight back just as strongly, with her not budging an inch. He looked visibly uncomfortable by the physical contact.

"I am most joyful that you are well!" she cried out as she let go of him. "I am happy to meet you friend! I am Starfire!"

He only stared at her in confusion, unable to understand anything she was saying as he wiped away the tears from his face. Quickly, Starfire remembered the language barrier and proceeded to introduce herself in his native tongue.

Everyone was shocked, including the newcomer.

"Starfire… you speak his language?" Robin asked, scratching his head.

She nodded with a smile on her face. "I learned his language the first day, through lip contact. It is truly no different then your own. Each letter of your language is simply a substitute for his."

"Wait… you _kissed_ him?!" Robin's face was now a violent red as he looked shocked by what he had just heard.

"Well, that's certainly a unique way to study distant cultures." Beastboy said with a laugh as he placed the food down on the table beside the bed.

The young man's gaze stared at the food immediately. Though he was in fine health, he licked his lips as if still had gone without food for months. He grabbed the plate from off the table and proceeded to go mad at the fake meat, without any semblance of manners. Beastboy smiled as Cyborg stood there surprised, dozens of fake burgers vanishing in a manner of seconds.

"See, told ya."

"Yeah, well, you don't know if he hates meat. Only that he'll eat that crap. And given that he just woke up from a coma brought on by _lack_ of food I wouldn't be surprised if he ate your boot right now."

Robin told them they could talk about his eating habits afterwards, as he wanted to continue on with the introductions and asked Starfire to translate everything they said. She agreed.

"I'm Robin."

"Cyborg." He extended his hand in courtesy, and reluctantly the boy shook it, seemingly afraid that some manner of trap awaited him, or so Raven saw, and when he felt safe he gave a firm handshake.

"Beastboy." He waved with a carefree smile and tried to ease him into being there. It didn't work.

Raven was last and almost had to be coerced into divulging her name, but she gave it freely enough, though her voice was cold as winter.

Starfire made sure to translate the introductions, while Robin turned the nearby chair around and sat with his legs through the bottom of the armrests as he rested his head on the back cushion to discover something, _anything_, that could shed some light on what the hell was going on..

"If it's okay with you, we'd like to ask you a few questions. There's… a lot we need to understand."

The teen was relatively calm, for the moment. Whatever anger and sadness he felt had subsided, and Raven guessed it was due to a desire to not see any fighting. She was glad this was the case, not because he posed a threat but because fighting wouldn't help matters. Not to mention Titans Tower had been the victim of so many deadly assaults on its structure that one more would just be adding insult to injury. He coursed his hand through his hair and recoiled slightly, his face writhing about in a grimace. No doubt how filthy his hair and skin felt was unpleasing to him.

"Ob og'r emuq wogs qei, wa'n boma ge urm qei u bew ziargoevr." Starfire said with a humble bow, hoping that might help things.

"O puv'g yhedora o'tt sufa gsa uvrwahr."

"He says he cannot guarantee he will have the answers we seek."

Raven nodded as did Robin, supposing that was fair, though part of her was skeptical that he wouldn't know the answers to their questions as opposed to simply deigning not to give them. She moved forward and, pacing slowly throughout the room, began by asking him his name, which Starfire translated.

"Xoje."

"What kind of a name is that?" Beastboy said with eyes wide. "Dude, you need a better superhero name then that. That just sounds weird." Robin shot him a hard glance that said there was a time and place for everything and this was not either for such questions, while Starfire refrained from translating what the shapeshifter had said.

"Okay Xoje," Robin continued, "can you tell us why you were out in the valley?"

Again, Starfire translated.

"O tofa gsaha."

"He lives there." She said almost wistfully. She seemed… disheartened by the fact that someone would live such a reclusive lifestyle, away from people. The valley was a barren expanse of brown rock, not only devoid of vegetation but any life at all. A bleak place that would cast a bleak view on life itself if one stayed there too long.

The boy known as Xoje sat on the bed, his hands clenched around his knees as he stared out the window. Raven wasn't certain of what he was thinking, but her empathic powers sensed that it was a longing for his life to have no problems, while at the same time regret. What he was regretting, she could not say, and would not attempt to find out unless he told the Titans or allowed her to parse through his mind.

Robin didn't seem shocked by the revelation of him living out there. No one had, in all honesty. On some level, all of them had suspected such, and it made sense. His tattered robes and starved state indicated he lived away from society.

"Why were you in the old library?" Beastboy asked. "Why were Plasmus, Overload, and Cinderblock after you?"

"And Slade…" Robin tacked on.

After Starfire translated once more, he replied that he went to the library many times in the last month out of interest of acquiring books to read. He told them, however, that his capacity to read the language here was… nonexistent, let alone understand it when spoken. He didn't know at all who the names given were referring to, and when he said as much the group assured him he shouldn't spend too much time thinking on it.

But before they could continue, he wanted to ask a series of questions of his own. They saw no harm in it.

"Wsq non qei uon da?"

When Starfire translated, they were shocked by the question. Surely he wasn't serious? Cyborg walked over to the window and leaned against it, before saying that he was in serious danger health-wise and to leave him alone would have been irresponsible. They didn't mention how Raven advocated him being taken elsewhere. Starfire spoke the words so he'd understand, as she had done before and would keep doing anytime her friends said something he wouldn't comprehend.

"Og wur veva eb qeih pevpahv!"

"But it was our concern!" Starfire shouted in dismay, quickly repeating it in his native tongue. Robin looked up and wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words as Starfire continued on. "You were in grave peril! We could not leave you alone!"

"Uvn wsug hokst ne qei sufa ge ovgahbaha ov egsah yaeytar' tofar?!" he shouted in a booming voice, his anger once again surfacing.

A long silence followed. The group, save for Starfire, was unaware of what he had just said, and the wind began to howl in the distance. Storm clouds covered the sky, gray and black, hiding the sun behind their grip as rain began to patter against the windows. Minutes passed, and Raven curiously stared at the boy, arching her eyebrows. Cyborg had a flat expression on his face, his large metallic arms crossed over his titanium chest.

Thunder roared in the horizon like the pounding of a great drum or the growls of a leviathan with such intensity that Starfire jumped at the sound with a minor shriek. Given the image before her, Raven couldn't help but liken it to the Hammer of God, cliché as that may have been. The sky was like a noose, tightening its hold on all that seemed bright and fair within the world and choking the life from it.

Lightning cleaved the sky in two, illuminating the seeping shadows and bringing out the luster of the environment. The sea, now a dark mix of blue and black before the eyes, glittered like gemstones under the lightning's golden aurora. What few seagulls had elected to remain on the beachfront were now taking flight, scattering to the four winds, their cries deafened by the rumbling of the thunder.

Getting up from the bed, Xoje walked over to the window and began to gently trace the rain's flow patterns along the glass pane, his arm striking out of his winged cloak. In the distance lay Jump City, the skyscrapers reaching out to the heavens as the lightning assaulted the horizon. With a low sigh, the boy turned to his interrogators.

"Teem, og'r veg gsug o'd veg khugabit beh gsa uon. Og'r cirg gsug gsaha uha haurevr wsq qei weitn'fa laav laggah ebb okvehovk da."

"Starfire?" Robin asked, hoping for a translation.

"He says that while he appreciates our assistance, we should not have given it so freely."

"I see…" Robin began to mull on the comment. "I have two more questions to ask, for now. First… would you consent to spending two to three weeks here, just until your health has returned?"

Starfire translated, and the boy looked up and nodded begrudgingly, asking for a room of his own. Robin said that arrangements could be made, perhaps, and Raven guessed that he was only agreeing because he knew he wouldn't be able to leave if he wanted to. Much as he didn't _want_ to be there, he would stay if only to placate the group.

"Lastly, just what are you?"

The Tamaranean Amazonian woman translated for the last time today, and the answer she received would chill her blood.

"Uv uredovugoev bhed satt." His voice was growing progressively harder to hear as a yawn escaped his body. "Vew o'd gohan."

With that, he crawled back into bed, nestled under the covers, as he began to stare at the ceiling. His eyes grew heavy, and soon he drifted aimlessly asleep. The Titans all left him to his dreams, walking down the hall and towards the elevator, hoping to discuss the matter in the lounge.

**O~O~O**

**July 16**

**Titans' Tower, Jump City, California**

**2:48 P.M.**

"So what do you want to do with him?" Cyborg asked the team leader.

The Titans were all gathered around the table in the main ops room that doubled as the lounge. Rarely did they seat themselves at the table, most of their calls to action occurring spontaneously and discussions about major villains happening in a relaxed state.

Why today marked them as using the table, none of them knew for certain. Maybe it was because events in the city had become… darker. Sure, life went on as usual in _appearances_, but these days Slade was more active in what he was doing. The three lackeys Slade employed had caused much mayhem within the city, thousands of dollars worth of damage and multiple casualties.

The Titans were now bringing out their best to deal with this threat to the city and… potentially the nation.

"For now, we keep an eye on him." Robin said as he looked at a map of the city, their discussion on Slade, Raven, and this boy having reach its apex. "Monitor his health. We've got two weeks to get him to want to stay here, so we'd best work on making the Tower seem like a new home for him as much as we can."

The television was muted in the background, images of a cooking show Cyborg had left on playing in the background, dealing with a dish guaranteed to set your mouth afire. Many of the people tasting it in the audience promptly went for something to drown the pain. Cyborg had a pot cooking on the stove before the Titans were called down to the medical bay, complete with his own little additions, and the timer was about to go off.

Starfire was elated at the prospect of him staying at the Tower, having cheerily forgotten what was going through the young boy's mind on just what he was. She always wanted to make friends, and whether that was naiveté or intelligence was up in the air for most people. The Titans simply saw it as who she was, and that perhaps it may have been a little of both, which didn't make it bad at all. She was by all accounts an astute individual, if one simply unaccustomed to earthly ways.

Cyborg seemed content as well, more from a concerned standpoint then one of wanting new people to interact with in the Tower. He was pouring over the medical charts as a last act to make sure the young metahuman was, if not perfectly healthy, capable of being removed from the medical bay. Robin told him on the walk up that he thought he saw blood oozing out of him during the incident in the valley when his powers manifested, but he wasn't entirely certain. Cyborg couldn't make heads or tails of that, on whether it was at all related to his health. He supposed that time would tell.

Beastboy seemed as happy as the Tamaranean wonder, though was decidedly more reserved about expressing it. But alongside his glad exterior, he was also confused as to why Robin would do such a thing. Robin had made it a point in the past to say aloud that he wouldn't make the same mistakes as before – a comment that had been clear to the emerald changeling and that resulted in a silent rift between the two Titans for a long period of time – and yet now he was changing his tune.

"So, we're going to let him join up with us?" Beastboy asked.

"No. He'll be limited in where he can go, but he _is_ going to have to stay here. If we let him loose again, the city could come under attack. Slade's shown that he has no reservations for sending Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload out in search of him… and those three are very single-minded. People would die as a result. Slade knows where he likes to go."

"Yeah, but you've seen the kid fight Robin. He can take care of anyone that comes his way." Cyborg said as he put down the medical file.

"No, he can't." Robin said where his tone was blunt and simple. "I **know** how Slade fights. He's able to quickly adapt to a change in the environment. He is not one to be taken down so easily."

"Meaning?" Beastboy asked.

"Meaning Slade let him win."

The news came as a shock to the rest of the group, even to Raven. None of them had thought this would be a possible thing to have happened. If true, Slade had taken a mighty gamble by wagering his life on the boy's morality. He could just as easily have sent one of his robots to do the work, or one of his goons, if he wanted to see the boy's powers firsthand. But the fact that he had made the personal trip himself actually… made Robin's assertion more credible.

And that chilled their souls. All of them looked at each other, and Starfire cast a glance to the outside windows. The rain was still pelting the city with fury, the water echoing off of the tower like a reckoning.

"Beyond that", Robin continued, "his powers seem to be very raw. Unstable. Raven knows more about this then I do, but if he is in such a volatile condition regarding his powers and his emotions then even if _Slade_ wasn't the problem, _he_ might be."

"And what if he doesn't want to stay here?" Raven added in. During the entire discussion, she sat with her leg crossed over the other, her arms pressed against her chest and her eyes closed. She took everything in, rarely saying much to contribute.

"Then we may have to take drastic measures." Robin said.

"You do not mean…" Starfire began, but Robin shook his head at what she was implying.

"No, not that. Even so, what I mean is a route I'd rather not take if we can avoid it."

In the background, the oven timer buzzed loudly, with Cyborg getting up from his chair to finish what needed to be done. Grabbing a few bowls from a cupboard, he began to dole out some of it for the group. Knowing Beastboy was not one to eat meat, he also brought out from the fridge a vegetarian meal for the changeling to eat, consisting of a salad and other non-animal foods for him to eat.

"Well, if we're gonna talk about things, might as well do it on a full stomach. Lunch is served!"

The Titans then proceeded to grab their allotted meals and dig in. As Robin took a spoonful of his meal, he began to sweat profusely as his body fought hard to deal with the extreme food before him. Swallowing the bit in his mouth, he ran over to the sink to drink a large heaping of water, while Raven used her powers to try and cool the lava pits that formed in her mouth.

"Jesus Cyborg! What the hell did you put in there?" Robin shouted in between gulps of water.

"Six different types of hot peppers, chili powder, cayenne pepper seasoning, hot sauce from Hell, Michigan called Scorned Woman, eight different types of meat, a few types of beans, and a lot of other stuff. No biggie."

"No biggie? My tongue just melted! You could've warned us that it wasn't going to be an easy swallow."

"Oh you'll live." Cyborg said with a beam. "Besides, I'm planning to enter a chili cooking contest soon and I wanted some honest opinions on my patented 12 Alarm Chili."

"Well, it'll certainly kill the competition." Raven said, meaning her remark almost literally.

The only Titan that was eating it that didn't feel like their senses were destroyed, aside from the chef, was Starfire. She quickly guzzled the contents of her bowl without even pausing, the remnants leaving a red smear across her face. As soon as her dish was drained, she presented it to Cyborg.

"It tastes like the Garkflob of my home world! More please!"

Cyborg happily obliged her as he scooped out another large handful with the ladle, the bowl almost overflowing. As Starfire started on her seconds and Robin and Raven slowly ate theirs, the bionic phenomenon brought the discussion around to Slade, a topic they'd honestly had enough of discussing but knew they needed to keep talking about.

"So Robin… manage to find out anything on that mark of Slade's?" he said as he reclined on the couch, his feet propped up on the table.

"Nothing. I couldn't find any viable leads. How about you guys?" Robin's hands tensed into fists as he lowered the spoon to the table.

Starfire shook her head. "I have found nothing in any of the tomes I took from Tamaran."

"I haven't found anything either in any of the eighteen occult databases I've looked over yet. Still more to go though." Cyborg said with a sigh.

Beastboy shook his head, though he confessed that he wasn't the authority to go to. Still, he'd talked to a few teachers within certain campuses and high schools hoping to get a clue. All of them said the same thing. They had never seen a symbol like it before in any of the historical texts and speculative books on the nature of magic they'd come across.

Raven said nothing through all of this, her silence stemming from nerves she'd try not to let on. Yet for all her attempts, her silence still cut through to the Titans like a knife.

"Raven, did you find anything?" Robin asked.

Truthfully, she knew exactly what the symbol meant. Not just from who it signified, but also who used it. Yet… this was her problem to deal with, and she didn't want to burden her friends with such weighty problems. More then that, she came to doubt that they could do anything to prevent all of this and she just wanted to make their days in the future as happy as could be.

Yet, a year would fly by far too quickly. The world never seemed to allow people enough time to just do what they wanted, to enjoy life's thrills. And for that she was sad, so she vowed that while there was never enough time in the world she'd make the most of it. If her fears proved true, then the Titans deserved as much to celebrate as possible.

"N-no", she said reluctantly. "Nothing yet."

"Well, we need to keep looking. Let's take another look at the security footage."

The screen then changed from the cooking program to showcase Slade beginning his assault on the old foundry, his being conjuring up flames of orange and black and controlling them at will. The flames pursued the recorded Raven no matter where she went, before she morphed into her soul-self to avoid the assault.

"Ever have one of those days where you're just **happy** to be alive?" Slade cried out as he took pleasure in his new powers.

"So I guess Slade didn't die after all like we thought." Cyborg said as he paused the screen. "Might've come close but it looks like he managed to get out somehow sight unseen."

"Then why didn't he go back to trying to take over the city?" Beastboy asked. "With those powers, he could've kicked all of our butts easily! He had to have died!"

"Man, no one could've survived a fall into all that lava! The fact that we saw him again kinda proves that!"

No one had an answer for this troublesome notion, so they settled for watching the security footage continue. They saw him deftly avoid all of their attacks, turn Starfire's bolts against her, coat his body in fire to phase through an entire metal pump Cyborg had lifted, and too many other things that he was never capable of before. Then, in the midst of it all, he grappled Raven's wrists and sent her flying, her clothes melting away.

"Freeze!" Robin said. He wanted a closer look at the marks that formed on Raven's arm. "Amplify 12-30."

As the image enlarged, he noted that it was a similar marking to the one on Slade's forehead and made a mental note of its shape. Maybe if they couldn't find the mark on Slade's forehead anywhere, they could find different ones pertaining to the issue.

When the video started up again, Slade's body crackled with electricity as he spoke of "it", whatever that was, beginning. The entire foundry was brought down almost instantly, the security footage having failed to keep up.

"Cyborg, flip on the news." Robin said, now content for the time being.

Cyborg picked up the remote and turned it to channel eight for the group to watch the incoming program. As soon as he had, however, the images changed from a light-hearted teen comedy to a sudden newsflash, with a heavyset man in a burgundy suit on the other end near a press conference in front of City Hall. Robin promptly grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

"Earlier today, Mayor Barelm was forced to resign after allegations of embezzling from the city's funds were brought to light. Barelm, a known spokesperson for mending the rift between metahumans and regular society, has now brought questions with these accusations."

It was true the man had worked hard to make society more tolerant of the heroes' presence. Many citizens now actively cheered whenever the Titans appeared in the fray, but just as many would look at them with scorn and hatred still. The rift was still wider then any of the Titans cared for, but it was slowly being filled.

"Some people are wondering if the Teen Titans have known about his crimes and have allowed them to continue so that the mayor would keep putting in a good word for them with the population of Jump City." The reporter continued.

"Dude!" Beastboy exclaimed. "I know him! He's never once struck me as a criminal! He knew my parents!"

"Not all of them seem the sort." Raven said.

"These allegations were reported to JCNN, among others, by one D. Chans, and now we are awaiting an official response from city representatives on this matter – ranging from who will fill the vacant seat of mayor to how this will affect metahuman-mundane relations."

Turning, the reporter saw a figure approaching the pedestal and rushed to be among the crowd, fighting for his spot. In the background, a man as thin as a rail and bald to boot approached the stand and gathered his voice.

"As you are all no doubt aware", the man began with a rather jittery voice, "Mayor Barelm has left his office a-after embezzlement charges were cast into the l-limelight. We are… deeply disheartened that such a kind-hearted individual would stoop to such heinous acts, and now we are appointing Vice-Mayor Gerden to fill the void for the time being."

That struck a nerve for the Titans. Gerden was a known person harboring a massive distrust of superheroes. That he'd take office for the months to come, if not longer, was only going to weaken their position in the city. The man was stubborn; an old and grizzled war veteran that would not cease until the city actively reviled the Titans' presence. He believed that granting such authority to people that could just as easily destroy the city if they wanted to be nothing short of negligence.

The Titans didn't hate the man, though. He cared about society, and although his fears were well founded he was making it a point to turn allies into, if not enemies, people incapable of providing assistance. Misguided, but not entirely wrong.

"What about how this will impact relations between superheroes and society?" one reporter cried out.

"Is it true that he was using funds to also support criminal activity to increase his prestige when they were caught?" another voice shouted.

"Please, please! Questions will be entertained later." The man was sweating a great deal as he took a piece of cloth to his shining forehead. "Now at this time, local authorities have taken the liberty of contacting the banks and reacquiring the embezzled funds. Most of the funds have been seized, though some of the taxpayers' money has regrettably already been spent. Commissioner Fielding will now say his part, and then we'll accept questions."

Commissioner Fielding was a rather fit man with a big bushy beard sprouting from his jaw line, his hair showing the first signs of receding. Accomplished at a young age in the Gotham police department, Commissioner Gordon had transferred him to Jump City as both a request from the Titans and Batman and as a call to deal with corruption in the forces in the city.

Surprisingly, his honest and amiable demeanor had a resounding effect on the city's forces as he rose through the ranks to his position, one the now disgraced Mayor had appointed him to. Before long, corrupt cops were rooted out like weeds and tossed to the wayside, paving the way for more honest cops to take the reins.

"Currently, we are still in the initial processes of investigating whether he did in fact commit these crimes. While funds have been found in his accounts and we have traced certain purchases back to his accounts, we are exploring all possible avenues to be sure we make no mistakes." Shuffling his papers and taking a deep breath, he began to speak again. "Now, are there any questions?"

"Yes, how will this affect the relationship between the Titans and society as a whole?"

"At this time, we have no predictions on that, but the Titans have always had the well-being of this city at heart. I have no doubt in my mind that has not changed, nor will it ever."

The reporter wanting to know about criminal connections now repeated his question

"We have found nothing to point to such a thing."

"What about your position, Commissioner? Will you also have to resign due to your long friendship with the mayor?"

"No."

The questions continued for some time, but Robin got up from his seat and grabbed his bowl of death stew and a large plate of saltine crackers to go with it.

"I'll be in the evidence room."

And as the door whooshed open, the Titans wondered what prompted him to leave. He must have noticed something about the recent story that triggered an idea or a memory. But whether this was from his obsession taking root or a lead, none of them could say. And they feared they might not ever find out.

As the press conference ended minutes later, it shifted to the actual news desk with some of the day's highlights. First up was how a local CEO of a genomics lab was talking of his plans to run for the state senate. Following that was a story of a fire that occurred in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city believed to have been the result of a gas leak, then a scoop on a local summer camp's accomplishments lately. Yet the cheerful aspects and the normal ones affecting society did little to change their grim outlook, at least for the moment.

And the days only seemed to grow darker as time marched on.

**O~O~O**

**A/N:**

My faithful readers, I thank you for your forbearance. These days are proving to be a trial for me as I write this – not because I'm losing interest, but rather because I'm losing _time_ - but each day new ideas sprout forth like seeds in spring's bloom after the first rains of the season. I, as always, view my chapters written as being those of not much praise, but perhaps you shall feel differently. Whether you feel it worth lauding or feel it should be tossed into Hell's inferno, thank you for at least taking the time to read it.

It means the world to me, reviews presented or no.

And it seems like I'm doing a lot of long chapters these days. I wanted to add some more dialogue in various places, but I couldn't think of anything that fit well that wouldn't just draw things out. Maybe my mind couldn't grasp certain things, but _c'est la vie_. My aim is to make all of the villains assembled in the meeting Slade held seem… competent.

While I didn't mind Teen Titans having a lot of "generic doomsday villains", I didn't like how every single villain aside from Slade and Blackfire fit that bill. There may have been others, but most were really just "Chaos for chaos' sake! Destroy!"

I like interesting villains too, y'know? And most were rather lame, people that don't actually pose a threat. So I've brought in a menagerie of villains, though I'll confess most of the named ones are Batman's rivals. I know more about them then I do Wonder Woman's, Green Lantern's, and so on.

Which, I must state, isn't to say they would not appear. But I'd need to do some research first so I can do their characters justice (if you'll pardon the pun). Sinestro, for instance, wouldn't be appearing as one of Slade's guests because I don't really see him as Green Lantern's enemy in the sense of Lex being Superman's.

And speaking of villains, mayhaps I shall introduce some new ones. Maybe. Certainly, I can't focus on Slade/Raven/Xoje all the time. The former two take precedence since Season four is about them, and while Xoje is going to be an important character he's not going to steal the spotlight.

So maybe we'll see a few new villains, with their own agendas, and that can actually be considered likable (or at least have slightly more depth then the show's villains, if I muck up the writing).

Also, I'm going to have to resort to putting what our newblood says in his language in parentheses. It takes me far too long to translate our words into the language he speaks. So if it's in parentheses, it's in his language. I may edit it as time goes by to be an actual representation, but short of that parentheses.

But, here is the alphabet translation, from English to his.

A - E

I - U

E - O

U - A

O - I

B - F

C - J

D - M

F - V

G - T

H - R

J - X

K - G

L - B

M - K

N - D

P - C

Q - Y

R - S

S - H

T - L

V - N

W - W

X - Z

Y - P

Z - Q


	5. Chapter 5: The Abyss

**A/N: **I was seriously half-tempted to name this chapter "Christ this took an eternity to write". It was that last damnable section that was giving me trouble (coupled with so much work I had to do lately). The first two sections were fine, they went by rather smoothly. They may not be all that great (seriously, I view anything I write as being mediocre at best) but they certainly didn't seem to be all that problematic when I was writing them. I could envision what was going on in a general sense.

In my opinion, the Beastboy PoV is sheer crap. But _c'est la vie_, it is what it is. Enjoy, my readers. I may not update this too often, however, but I'll definitely make sure that it doesn't become a Dead Fic.

However, if a person familiar with the DC universe and has written a few Teen Titans/DC fanfics would be willing to be a beta reader for me, then please let me know.

Anyway, here ya go:

**O~O~O**

_Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. – Friedrich Nietschze_

**July 21**

**Titans' Tower 7****th**** Floor Archival Libraries, Jump City, California**

**6:12 A.M**

For all the innumerable grievances he counted for being locked away as a virtual prisoner in this soaring edifice, even if it was of his own volition to remain, Xoje had to admit that Titans' Tower's library was beyond impressive. Rows of books beyond counting were before him, and he'd begun to have an easier time reading thanks to private tutoring with Raven and Starfire over the last few days.

The reasoning behind it was a combination of his own request and Robin's urging on the matter, both knowing full well those two weeks would be incredibly difficult to pass by without problematic discussions if things were left as they were. He couldn't speak for why Robin advocated it, but he knew his own mindset. He wanted to be able to comprehend the books of Earth, understand the music and sing along with it, and many other things. And he was making progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless

Still, he couldn't read many of the more elaborate tomes due to still trying to learn this language. But he knew a few words and would pour through smaller books trying to find them, while trying to sound out the ones he didn't know. And he was happy with how much he was able to do, and he would have to thank Raven for her help – even if she was ordered to do it.

Raven's stance during all of their interactions was… tense though, to say the least. Aloofness kept bare and precise, her eyes were as cold as ice and as hard as steel. There was no hint of malice in them, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she only barely tolerated his presence in the Tower.

Her teaching skills were superb, however. Patience came naturally to her anytime he had trouble pronouncing a word and she would guide him to getting a handle over it. In return, he offered to teach her the alphabet of his language and she agreed, soon enough having quickly grasped its layout and forming her own complete sentences.

During those sessions where he was being taught, the green changeling would often interrupt, trying to drag him out for something Raven had said was, in his language, a "waste of brain cells". He didn't quite understand what she was referring to, but nevertheless politely refused Beastboy at each venture...

…though he was certainly curious. Maybe the next time he'd accept, after the next lesson was over with. Certainly, he'd made time for Cyborg and Starfire to escort him all around the Tower, showing him the various rooms the hulking building. The Game Room, complete with all manner of unfamiliar technology that baffled the young boy, was the first room they'd visited. Of course, the thing that shocked him the most was finding out that the one called Cyborg was, in fact, a living person.

All of the time he'd seen him, he thought that it was just another mindless robot like the ones he'd seen during his childhood. To see this level of innovation was both astounding and horrifying, in its' own way. But he took care to keep that outlook to himself. They next had gone to the lounge, where Xoje was informed that this was their main area of recreation, a large television screen built into the windows, with the latest in gaming consoles hooked up to it.

He didn't pretend to understand what a "video game" was.

Flipping through the pages of his latest assignment handed to him by the enigmatic dark witch, he couldn't help but notice the coming sunrise. The sky above the Tower was a dark violet, progressively easing into a crimson and orange mixture that brilliantly illuminated the horizon, bathing the clouds in a pinkish hue like that of the cherry blossoms that he saw in the park the previous night. The sight held promises and hopes, dreams and ideals, and most of all… beauty untold.

And he wanted to take it in firsthand, up on the roof. Books could wait until eventide. This was a rare sight. Leaving the library and turning towards the steps, he looked out the window to see the tidal waves brush against the cliffs with soft precision, the white foam dancing with each movement.

He was now nearing the eighth floor of the Tower, the one where Robin had given him his own personal bedroom. Nothing fancy, as it turned out. Just a large bed with a good view of the ocean and city, with a desk across the room and a box that played moving images for him to pass the time. It was also seated in the vicinity of Raven's room, no more then a journey down two halls before reaching it.

He made sure to lighten his steps as he made his way towards the lift, out of consideration so he wouldn't wake anyone in the Tower, his pristine wings wrapped around his body. Given his body's structure, none of Earth's shirts would fit around the large white appendages. So for the time being, he'd just keep them swathed about his torso while wearing a pair of blue denim pants, black socks, and black shoes for comfort the Titans had bought for him.

Stepping out onto the rooftop from the elevator, the sunlight caught him in the eye almost immediately, rendering him blind at the onset. The glare was almost too much, but blocking it with his arm he moved towards the edge of the roof, and took in the vista as he'd meant to.

"(Beautiful)", he said as he looked at the ocean. He could smell the salt wisps on the air and feel the breeze stirring as it drove through him. He could hear the sound of the waves louder then before, seeing them firsthand strike against the cliff.

Letting his wings unfurl, he took to the skies and let the air guide him as he swayed about on his back, eyes closed, intent on watching the sun rise in all of its' splendor. With the wind at its current strength, there was no reason for him to use his wings right now to keep himself aloft. The air would take him where it willed, and he was perfectly satisfied with that. But that did not mean he could not have fun.

Oh, how he danced in the air! Spinning around and around, letting the world seem but a vanishing image before him. These were the scenes he so enjoyed. A life isolated was worth it if he could have something comparable to this whenever he wanted to view it.

The glistening sphere was peeking its way across the sky like a child coming out of hiding ever so slowly, the colors now becoming simpler in their weave. The heat was now pressing down, sweat slowly trickling down his forehead and body

"Couldn't resist coming up here, could you?"

Shocked at discovering he wasn't alone, Xoje turned around and saw the young leader of this motley crew standing at the edge, a warm smirk on his face. Flying down to greet the young man, he tried to say hello, but it came out a garbled mess.

"Still learning, huh?" Robin said casually as the winged boy stepped back to the concrete overlook.

"Y-yes".

"Well, you'll get the hang of it eventually." There was a pause in the air before Robin continued, pointing to the boy's chest. "Sorry you don't have a shirt. There doesn't seem to be any type of material that fits around your wings."

"Is fine." He said; content to keep his wings around his chest. Part of him enjoyed it, the feeling of the feathers against his skin, a light tickling sensation. He was quite nervous around the leader of the group – in fact, among the group as a whole – and it was clearly visible. His hands were shaking, his speech quick like he wanted to go away once more into his room like he had so often done when not being dragged about.

"So, do you (enjoy the view)?"

Pleasantly surprised by the fact Robin knew a few words, it made him feel slightly more at ease.

"(Yes. It is quite nice)."

"I imagine you don't see many places like this out in the valley." Robin eased himself to sit on the edge and picked up a few pieces of gravel, some large and small. Tossing them out into the ocean one by one, he would wait to see them pierce the now calm waters. The result was what he really enjoyed.

The ripples were interesting to Xoje as well, how the smallest little disturbance in the natural order of things could incite a chain reaction. That's all the world really was to him, a natural order where things should not be troubled.

Standing beside Robin a fair ways down, he could feel the wind picking up, casting his long locks . In the far distance, the first signs of people traversing the beach could be seen. Eager young men with a desire to paraglide, though the ones with surfboards looked to be disheartened by the lack of early morning swells.

Birds were now adding their own voices to the cacophony of sounds prevalent in the atmosphere, flying about on the rising currents. Some flew in front of the young winged figure and gave him puzzled looks, as if wanting to know how a person that seemed human could have gained the ability to fly with wings.

He simply smiled at that, and told them not to worry.

"The animals seem to like you."

"(All life can be one with other life, if they so choose to learn. It's no secret.)"

"So…" Robin began. "(How do you like it here?)"

"Is nice. Library too."

"I figured you'd like the library", he said. "Beastboy told us how you were looking for books when we found you. (You like to read?)"

"(I grew up on a world with a large library, and books were often a part of my upbringing. They let me enter new worlds and learn new ideas.)"

"(You're like) Raven (in that regard, then.)"

"(She… does not approve of my being here.") Xoje said.

"It's not that", Robin said back. "We've just been on edge lately, due to… some fairly recent events."

"(The one you call) Slade?"

Robin's face turned taut as a tightrope, his eyes now glaring at the sun as if to intimidate it into racing headlong into dusk. Standing upright as he angrily tossed a rock into the water and promptly clenching his fists afterwards, he confirmed the reason the young boy gave.

"Yeah."

"He is… bad?" Xoje asked almost innocently.

"Worse." Robin said coolly. "But that's a story for another time."

Unsure how to respond, he let the conversation hang there. It was obviously a sensitive subject for the young leader, indicating a very personal history. But he was not one to pry into such delicate matters, especially with people he barely knew.

But then it hit him like a barrage of bullets, a topic that he could bring up and would be content with. It was one that he wanted the answer to; one that he _needed_ to know the answer to.

"You… all young. Why fight?"

Brought out of his own distant haze, Robin perked up at the question. Through the rough English, he could make out what he was trying to ask.

"Why do we fight when we're just kids?" he asked rhetorically. "Simple. We've been given abilities that few others possess, powers that can do more good then just leaving the safety of the population to other people."

"But… who chose?"

"No one. We appointed ourselves to the role after an invasion years ago, one we managed to stop."

He did not seem appeased by that answer. In fact, that only seemed to confuse him further. This small group held enough power to easily conquer the land, more so if they stopped an entire regiment of alien invaders. Didn't anyone see any sort of problem with this, granting the fate of an entire city to such people?

"That seems… (dangerous. The world doesn't fear you?)"

"They do, very much so. And they're right. It's not unusual to see people use their talents for criminal activity. But we are not like those people."

He did not seem eager to say much more, and before Robin could elaborate, the communicator fastened to his utility belt began blinking red. Flipping it open, a small minimap could be seen through the edge of Xoje's peripheral vision, which then quickly switched to images of the city facing some new threat.

Overhead, helicopters could be seen flying about the city

"Sorry, we'll talk later. I have to get the group together. (Do you give me your word you won't leave?)"

"(On my honor.)"

"I'll hold you to that, then."

And in a mad dash, Robin hurled himself through the door and down the stairwell, leaving Xoje all alone in the now risen sun. It didn't make any sense to him. None of this did. These were good people, yet they were directly interfering in the lives of society. They were not given any right to do this, yet they did so anyway and faced no repercussions.

Because of them, people could go on living. They hurled their bodies and minds headlong into danger with such abandon that he could only think of them as being insane, suicidal even. Their hearts were fearless, their wills made of grit tougher then hardened steel, their sense of justice and duty absolute in its unwavering devotion. They were beyond his comprehension, heroes through and through, seeing the good in humanity and knowing that they were given a gift to be used responsibly rather then for their own gains.

And they helped him, a stranger, one who wanted nothing to do with them in the first place! Why? By the half-heard comments he'd gathered together, he assumed it had something to do with the name Slade, not believing the talk of how it was "for his health". He would've been fine had they left him alone. He would have been exhausted, to be sure, but nothing that couldn't be dealt with by hunting some wildlife. In the back of his head the name Slade echoed off the walls, and he had no idea who that was. None of the Titans had ever delved into a discussion on the name with him, so he was kept in the dark.

And in all honesty, he preferred that. This life wasn't for him. He wasn't a hero; he wasn't some guardian of men, some defender of justice. He held no delusions of grandeur, no fanciful notions of who he could and wanted to be in the eyes of the people. He was just a young boy who wanted to live his life in peace, alone and cast adrift from the whole of society. Whereas they used their powers routinely for good, his powers caused him nothing but misery. Their responsibility was to protect society from others; his was to protect society from himself.

And he stood there, at the edge of the Tower, as he saw the Titans make their way to the city in a black projection of energy. He stood there, watching the surfers at the beach stare up at the sphere, caught by the waves in their awe with each stare and pointed finger. He could almost make out the cheers of children and adults both, despite the distance and screeching of birds overhead. Perhaps that was imagined, perhaps not.

But he stood there, feeling that he was at the edge of the world, and that he was near a fate of falling into a lightless abyss where all semblances of reason and wisdom had been ensnared by vicious tendrils of terror, and that they were now setting their sights on him. Yet try as he might, his gaze could not be shaken. His eyes were affixed to this idea of oblivion. And he was once more fearful. He wanted to run, yet he gave his word that he would not flee.

So he waited, as he said he would, because his curiosity was piqued. But he knew he couldn't stay here for long. When these two weeks ended, he would leave first thing and find some new uninhabited land to stay at. Floating in the air slightly off the ground, he unfurled his wings to full spread; their brilliant plumage caught in the air as he crossed his legs and remained there with eyes closed off to the world.

Perhaps an hour would be enough time to do what he needed.

**O~O~O**

**Jump City Main Square, Jump City, California**

**6:54 A.M.**

The square was filled with people, too many to count.

Though for once, this wasn't something that the Titans were worried about. The Titans weren't called in to fight some threat, new or old, that might've caused many casualties … but rather as negotiators. The press had gathered around, not for the recent developments, but rather for a story on a local bistro celebrating its 50th year in business.

Normally, hostage crises would necessitate involvement from the local authorities. And indeed, Robin had inquired as to why they were being called in. As it turned out, not fifteen minutes earlier had the police tried to intervene, only to find that the kidnapper was not a normal human with a gun but rather a metahuman, one capable of easily creating explosions in the air and surroundings.

Thus far, no casualties had been reported, of which everyone in the group was thankful for. The perpetrator had taken careful steps to ensure that no innocents were harmed in what he was doing, adding a further layer of confusion for what was going on.

But nevertheless, the Titans were intent on getting to the root of the problems and began formulating a plan for how best to extract the captured person… who as it turned out was none other then the Senatorial candidate the news had covered not a few days prior.

Across the street from the café was an office complex, now devoid of anyone inside, all the employees having promptly fled in the chaos. Various suits and hotshot executives were now shouting into cell phones, complaining about everything going on as if this was nothing serious. Thermal imaging from Cyborg's bionic eye placed the two men as being somewhere on the thirty-fifth floor, though he confessed they were seemingly on the move.

"Looks like they're heading to the roof." He told the group.

"Then we'll move to intercept him. Starfire and I will head to the roof and move down." Robin said. "The rest of you should head to the twenty-eighth floor and begin your ascent towards Level 34."

"Robin", a small-framed office worker of Asian descent said approaching the group. "You should exercise extreme caution. This man is actively engaging in terrorist acts, and if I recall our CEO Damian Warlen recognized him as being an unstable war veteran."

"And who are you supposed to be?" Raven asked, arching her eyebrows.

"Forgive me. I am Takeshi Kuwamatsu, and I oversee the finances of Warlen Genetics."

"You mentioned this man was in a war?" Starfire asked.

The man nodded, and beneath the glasses that rested on his face, his eyes gave off a look that Robin found all too familiar. It stank of lies and deceit, of corruption. But he wasn't certain if that was about this situation right now or about his own work. Either way, he wanted as much information as he could acquire.

"Perhaps war was the wrong word to use. This man, Gabriel Anderson, was employed directly after receiving a dishonorable discharge from the Marines. For what he was discharged for, I cannot say. What I do know is that we tasked him with overseeing and protecting high value targets in another country six years ago. A civil war was happening then, and the village which his group was assigned to was caught in it. Out of all of the people there, five hundred and sixteen all told, only 147 survived. Out of his group of fifteen, only four survived, two being the people we needed to have protected."

"And why were they so special?" Cyborg asked.

"They were considered to have a specific DNA sequence critical to our research. I cannot say more then that, due to the files being considered confidential."

If the man had military training, he was well versed in close quarters combat as well, making him a dangerous opponent more then he would've been had it just been the explosive capabilities. That he was also older then the Titans meant that his body was more attuned to physical efforts.

This would not be easy. Negotiations would be hard enough, trying to assess the man's mindset. Throw in all of this and Robin had to wonder what the hell was going on. Why did this man suddenly have explosive powers so late into his lifetime?

"Alright. Thank you mister Kuwamatsu, your help is appreciated." Robin said, shaking the man's hand.

"One final word. Gabriel seemed to have developed some severe psychological issues upon returning to the states. I do not believe he will be amenable to reason, so force may be necessary."

The group then moved forward, with Starfire lifting Robin to the rooftop and Raven channeling her energy to transport her small group to their designated floor. As he ascended through the air, seeing all of the people gathered turning into ants, a question popped into his mind.

"Starfire… what do you think of this situation?"

"I… feel there is more we do not know." She said hesitantly.

"Agreed. I find it suspicious that we were told a company employee, as opposed to the police. And that man's eyes were hiding something."

Upon arriving on the rooftop, Robin took note of their surroundings. Gas pipes, air conditioning units, generators… all manner of things that would be hazardous should a fight break out. Although, given the alternative where fighting might happen inside the building – and thus possibly cause structural damage – Robin was going to ensure that there wouldn't be any hostility happening at all.

All was quiet on the rooftops, and he could make no sound out from behind the doors which told him that they were at least ahead of him by a few levels and thus would be able to begin their descent without any hassles.

Pulling out his communicator, he hoped to ascertain whether this would be true for the rest of the group in their climb upwards.

"Cyborg, come in."

There was static for a few seconds, but that soon changed to an image of Cyborg…

…ducking behind a stone pillar and firing sonic blasts, with Raven providing her own attacks as a secondary measure. Bullets could be heard rippling past the three Titans, Beastboy rendered useless for the time being, while laser rifle blasts were rippling past them as well.

"Cyborg, what's happening?!"

"We've got dozens of security robots giving us hell down here, that's what! As soon as Raven fazed us in, our heat signatures must've been detected by the building's security! That damn suit didn't bother to mention this?! What the hell's the matter with him?!"

"Carve a path through them and try to figure out what's causing them to act like this!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" He shouted in between blasts of blue and white. Noticing a ventilation shaft near him, he kicked it in and told Beastboy to try and follow it in the hopes he could take them from surprise. Beastboy transformed into a small rodent and scurried along the metal shafts.

Closing the Comm. Unit, Robin uttered a curse of frustration.

"Damn… something's definitely off about this whole affair."

**O~O~O**

"Go through the vents, he said. Sneak around them, he said. It'll be easy… tch, yeah right."

Beastboy was having a hard time moving through the ventilation system due to all the chaos in the environment, bullets and lasers threatening to cause him grievous injury. Even now, he could feel the fur sizzling from the last blast, which if he had his head raised slightly higher would make him one dead mouse.

The acrid stench of musk and mildew perforated the air and continually made him wince and grimace, but he pressed on, finding his way throughout the air shafts. He could hear the fighting going on through the walls, the grunts of anger his best friend the bionic brute let out, with Raven's mumbo jumbo chanting following suit.

The passageways were now growing progressively narrower, which would've been a problem had he been in his normal form, or even just a normal person at all. But he'd watched Die Hard enough times to know that emulating a TV dinner was not going to be fun, and this form would more then suffice.

Still, even if he was able to move throughout the routes, he had no idea where the hell he was supposed to go. It's not like these places came with a map.

Well, they did, if you had the foundational blueprints. _But it's a bit late for that_, Beastboy thought.

Running about like this brought to mind a mission the Titans had done years ago, back when Terra was on the team. Some creature, monstrous in appearance standing over twelve feet tall with tusks as sharp as razors and a hide as strong as steel, complete with a severe lack of intelligence much like Plasmus and Cinderblock, had begun tunneling its way through the city's subterranean levels and threatened to level the entire area.

The group had ascertained the general arc the beast was moving at its accelerated speed and planned accordingly, having Terra and Beastboy descend into the caverns below to try and meet it head on while the rest of the Titans followed it from above.

There wasn't much for them to do as they slowly wound their way through the earth, talking about pranks the two of them had pulled on Cyborg together. A smile crossed his mouth as he recalled the time he spent with her.

Cyborg had been experimenting with a new means of keeping himself active, powered by a battery that would keep itself charged anytime it was in the sun so long as certain segments of his metal body were augmented with solar panels. Nothing major, as the material was far too fragile for him to rely on it in battle, but very small segments in the occasional area on his arms, legs, and torso would do the trick.

One day, right after a training regimen, Cyborg was on his way to get a "snack" – though for the Titans, the word "snack" was a misnomer as they tended to gorge themselves on whatever was at hand.

As Cyborg stepped away from the obstacle course, the earth began to rise all around him, cloaking him in blackness. Confused at first, he told Beastboy and Terra to "knock it off" as he could keel over if the new power cell wasn't exposed to the sunlight. Terra told him not to worry as it would only take a few minutes.

So with each step she took, a new path way emerged for Cyborg to follow, kept obscure from the light. Cyborg had tried to turn on his own light source, but found that the two Titans had preemptively fiddled around with it while he was sleeping such that he couldn't see where he was going other then by feeling the walls.

Though really, all they had done was pull a few wires that Cyborg could easily fix once back inside the Tower. The two of them were far from technological wizards, so it was a miracle that they hadn't blown him up.

As he progressed, he eventually found himself at the end of his journey. Feeling around for some clue, he had noticed door handles leading inside a certain area of the Tower's grounds and reluctantly pulled them open. As he stepped into the threshold, dozens of gallons of oil poured forth from above, coating every inch of his body in dark and thick liquid.

It was a glorious sight when he came out of the warehouse, drenched and fuming with anger while trying to stifle some form of laughter, well worth the effort put into it. Terra and Beastboy fell over, reeling with laughter at the sight, rolling around amidst the filth.

Those were some of the best days, where Terra found Beastboy to be a wonderfully amusing person. And yet they were gone, Terra reduced to a statue, but even so nothing could take away those memories. He thought that maybe today... after all of this, he should go and visit her. He hadn't been to see her for a while now, and today was shaping up to be an interesting day to say the least.

Now, looking ahead and out of his recollection, the path forked into four different possible ways. He could go to his right, without any clue where that went. He had a hunch that it led away from the battle. He could go straight ahead and down, though he could make out the sound of a fan turbine blade spinning, so that was definitely out of the option. Aside from the fact that he might very well be rendered into two grisly sections of meat and bone, a harsh and grotesque crimson spew coating his magnificent green skin, without some form of explosives like the ones Robin had it'd take him far too long to launch an attack from below through all of the concrete separating each floor.

Straight above was now rendered out of the question as well; so his only choice was to go to his left and with luck he might find a vent some ways behind. Really, that's all this entire thing was banking on: luck.

Scurrying along, he eventually came to see a ventilation shaft peering out. Through the iron grate he could make out the floor directly beneath him, but saw no signs of quarry, the robots or the kidnapper.

"Finally!" Beastboy cried out in sheer happiness. Switching his form to that of a fly, he buzzed through the grates and crawled along the wall, looking through his many eyes at the hallway. As suspected, not a trace of anyone could be seen throughout the corridor.

"Man", he said with a sigh as he changed to his normal form. "Whoever this guy is, he's going through a lot of trouble to keep people away from him. Guess I better look for Cyborg and Raven."

And off he went, into that unknown stretch of what laid beyond.

**O~O~O**

**A/N: **Some of you, as you read this, may have come to wonder why Robin and Raven are apparently quickly becoming masters of this new language in the span of a few days, since though it's a simple letter swap you still have to recall which letter equals another and form the words accordingly (which might make it a more difficult process).

I assure you, they are not masters of the language. Raven has more skill for it (being a polyglot and all) but they are not able to speak it fluently. Well, Raven will be, maybe. Still debating on that. But Robin won't be, hence why he sporadically interjects his sentences. There is, however, reasoning for why they're at this level. Think of it this way:

Since Robin, Raven, and Starfire all share a common spoken language (English), they will be able to help each other learn the new language faster then one who is unfamiliar with any other language (Xoje) and is surrounded by people who **only** speak that common language.

In other words, they're more skilled because they can rely on each other to help them learn it, whereas Xoje's skill at it is going to take far longer for him to master because of the language barrier.

How long? Who knows? For now, his English is limited. He may understand more then he can speak, but he can not speak the language very well barring a few moments here and there.


End file.
